The 10th Asian Symposium on Computational Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow ( ASCHT2025)

The effect of stress and thickness on oxygen transport resistance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is critical for performance optimization. Molecular dynamics simulations in this study reveal that compressive stress in the 0-2 MPa range reduces diffusion resistance by improving water cluster connectivity, while stress exceeding 2 MPa significantly increases diffusion resistance due to channel structure damage. Meanwhile, increasing Nafion film thickness leads to a nonlinear increase in diffusion resistance. Although diffusion resistance is significantly affected by both stress and thickness, adsorption resistance consistently remains the dominant component of total oxygen transport resistance.
 

Local oxygen transport resistance,PEMFCs,Stress,Film thickness,MD simulations