In polymer electrolyte fuel cells, at high current densities, water management in gas diffusion layers (GDL) is a potentially limiting process. Liquid water present in the void space of the GDL increases the tortuosity of the gas transport path from channel to catalyst layer and thus the mass transport overvoltage increases. The concept of improving water management in GDL by mechanical structuring is already 10 years old¹, though it’s potential has not been systematically assessed, and therefore not been exploited yet. This work aims at exploring the fundamental understanding of regularly perforated GDL’s (see Figure 1a/b) by a systematic performance analysis under different cell operating conditions. Figure 1c shows an exemplarily cell performance analysis for different operating conditions for Toray 060 TGPH GDL with the perforations given in Figure 1 a/b. Experiments shown are for GDL without MPL, more conditions and underlying systematics will be discussed in the presentation.

1. Gerteisen, D., Heilmann, T. and Ziegler, C. Enhancing liquid water transport by laser perforation of a GDL in a PEM fuel cell. J. Power Sources, 177, 348–354 (2008).