Water management and performance enhancement in proton exchange membrane fuel cells with purge strategies

Effective water management is imperative for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. This study presents an investigation of water management in dead-end anode (DEA) proton exchange membrane fuel cells by correlating current density with anode and cathode liquid saturation, and membrane water content under well-controlled purge intervals of 0.5, 0.75, and 1 s. By explicitly linking purge strategy to the evolution of water accumulation and performance transitions, the work provides innovative physical insight into the fundamental trade-off between enhanced membrane hydration and mass-transport limitations. Results show that DEA operation enhances membrane hydration, where 0.5 s purge attains the maximum value of water content with15.8 at 1.5 A/cm 2 , followed by 14.8 at 1.4 A/cm 2 for the 0.75 s purge, and 1 s purge achieves 13.7 at 1.2 A/cm 2 , whereas parallel flow reaches 12.0 at 1.0 A/cm 2 . The DEA increases anode liquid saturation to 0.78 at 1.5 A/cm 2 (0.5 s), 0.74 at 1.4 A/cm 2 (0.75 s), and 0.69 at 1.2 A/cm 2 (1 s), compared with 0.52 at 1.0 A/cm 2 for parallel flow, representing increases of 51%, 42%, and 33%, respectively. The DEA configuration improves voltage performance compared with parallel flow, with average enhancements of 50.7%, 73.0%, and 78.2% for purge durations of 0.5, 0.75, and 1 s, respectively. Compared with parallel flow, purge durations enhance power density by 24% (0.5 s), 36% (0.75 s), and 56% (1 s), reaching 0.62, 0.68, and 0.78 W/cm 2 at 1.0, 1.1, and 1.3 A/cm 2 , respectively.