摘要： In this work, we report the improvements made on the PEM fuel cell with metal foam as the flow distributor. The comparison in polarization curve is made between the PEM unit cell with different metal foam flow field designs and the PEM unit cell with graphite bipolar plate as flow distributor. The experimental results show that after using improved metal foam flow field designs, the fuel cell's performance increases. Our results show that, in the PEM unit cell with single zone metal foam, the convection is weak at side corners. Dividing the metal foam into multiple regions and using multiple inlets effectively improves gas distribution. AC impedance measurement was also performed to study impedance characteristics. The Nyquist and Bode plots confirmed that Ohmic resistance, activation resistance, and mass transfer resistance of metal foam fuel cell are all smaller than that of conventional PEM unit cell. ► New designs to improve PEM fuel cell (FC) with metal foam as the flow distributor. ► For the cell with single zone metal foam, the convection is weak at side corners. ► Using multiple zones and multiple inlets effectively increases the gas distribution. ► AC impedance analysis was performed to study the impedance characteristics. ► Resistances of metal foam FC are smaller than that of conventional graphite FC. 出版者： Kidlington: Elsevier Ltd 出版日期： 2012-09-01 出處： International journal of hydrogen energy, 2012-09, Vol.37 (17), p.13060-13066 資源來源： Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete ** 版權： 2012 Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. 版權： 2014 INIST-CNRS 識別號： ISSN: 0360-3199 識別號： EISSN: 1879-3487 識別號： DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.05.008 識別號： CODEN: IJHEDX
