i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5

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Effects of inlet relative humidity (RH) on the

performance of a high temperature-proton
exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC)

Purushothama Chippar a, Kyungmun Kang a, Young-Don Lim b,

Whan-Gi Kim b, Hyunchul Ju a,*
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751,
Republic of Korea
b
Department of Applied Chemistry, Konkuk University, 322 Danwol, Chungju 380-701, Republic of Korea

article info abstract

Article history: A high temperature-proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFC) based on phos-
Received 15 December 2012 phoric acid (PA)-doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane is able to operate at elevated
Received in revised form temperature ranging from 100 to 200
C. Therefore, it is evident that the relative humidity
11 April 2013 (RH) of gases within a HT-PEMFC must be minimal owing to its high operating temperature
Accepted 22 May 2013 range. However, it has been continuously reported in the literature that a HT-PEMFC per-
Available online 21 June 2013 forms better under higher inlet RH conditions. In this study, inlet RH dependence on the
performance of a HT-PEMFC is precisely studied by numerical HT-PEMFC simulations.
Keywords: Assuming phase equilibrium between membrane and gas phases, we newly develop a
High temperature-proton exchange membrane water transport model for HT-PEMFCs and incorporate it into a three-
membrane fuel cell dimensional (3-D) HT-PEMFC model developed in our previous study. The water diffu-
Polybenzimidazole (PBI) sion coefficient in the membrane is considered as an adjustable parameter to fit the
Numerical modelling experimental water transport data. In addition, the expression of proton conductivity for
Proton conductivity PA-doped PBI membranes given in the literature is modified to be suitable for commercial
PBI membranes with high PA doping levels such as those used in Celtec
MEAs. Although
the comparison between simulations and experiments shows a lack of agreement quan-
titatively, the model successfully captures the experimental trends, showing quantitative
influence of inlet RH on membrane water flux, ohmic resistance, and cell performance
during various HT-PEMFC operations.
Copyright ª 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.

1. Introduction membranes require sufficient membrane hydration to ensure

A typical perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane such as
DuPont’s Nafion
has been widely used as proton conducting
membranes due to its good proton conductivity, chemical
stability, and mechanical strength [1]. However, PFSA
efficient proton conduction, which limits operating tempera-
ture range of PFSA membrane to below 100
C (typically
60e80
C). On the other hand, a PA-doped PBI membrane ex-
hibits good proton conductivity without requiring water con-
tent in the membrane and also shows excellent chemical,

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ82 32 860 7312; fax: þ82 32 868 1716.
E-mail addresses: hcju@inha.ac.kr, hxj122@gmail.com (H. Ju).
0360-3199/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.05.115
2768 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5
thermal stability and negligible electro-osmotic drag at rela-
tively high temperatures ranging from 100 to 200
C [2e4].
Therefore, a PA-doped PBI membrane based fuel cell is able to
operate at elevated temperatures (usually above 120
C)
without humidification of the reactant gases, showing several
advantages over a PFSA membrane based low temperature
(LT) fuel cell. The beneficial features include faster electrode
kinetics, simpler water and heat management, improved
mass transfer and higher tolerance to CO, which renders a
HT-PEMFC using a PA-doped PBI membrane well suited for
most distributed energy or combined heat and power (CHP)
applications.
It has been reported in the literature that the proton
conductivity of a PA-doped PBI membrane generally in-
creases with acid doping level, temperature, and inlet feed
gas relative humidity (RH) [5e12]. He et al. [5] measured the
proton conductivity of PA-doped PBI membrane as a function
of inlet RH. They showed that an increase in the RH signifi-
cantly improves the proton conductivity for PA-acid doped
PBI membrane under high operating temperature of 200
C.
Asensio et al. [6] measured the proton conductivity of an
ABPBI membrane in a wide temperature range from 50 to
200
C under different inlet RH conditions (5e30%). Their data
exhibit that the proton conductivity generally increased with
temperature and RH but showed exceptional behaviour at 5%
RH and high operating temperatures above 180
C that they
attributed to the dehydration of PA in the membrane. Ma
et al. [7] experimentally showed that the proton conductivity
measured at RH ¼ 0% decreases with temperature whereas
the proton conductivity under humidified inlet gases (RH ¼ 5,
10, 20, and 30%) shows a significant improvement with rising
temperature. They concluded that the different behaviour of
the proton conductivity data under dry conditions (RH ¼ 0%)
is due to the formation of H4P2O7 and the dehydration of PA
at higher temperature. Lobato et al. [9] and Chen and Lai [12]
measured the ionic resistance of a PA-doped PBI membrane
as a function of operating temperature. Their proton con-
ductivity data reflect Arrhenius behavior up to 130e140
C
but further increasing temperature beyond 130e140
C re-
duces the proton conductivity. The experimental trend
clearly implies that the effect of membrane dehydration be-
comes significant at the high temperatures, significantly
deteriorating a network for proton transfer in the membrane.
Note that the RH values corresponding to a high operating
temperature range of HT-PEMFCs (usually 120e180
C) must
be minimal and consequently the effect of RH on a PA-doped
PBI fuel cell is less significant as compared with that of a
PFSA fuel cell [12,13]. However, the aforementioned experi-
mental studies clearly confirm the important role of RH on
the proton conductivity of a PA-doped PBI membrane, which
implies that cell performance is affected by inlet gas
humidification.
Simultaneously, several numerical HT-PEMFC models
have been developed and presented in the literature in order
to more precisely study key reaction and transport phe-
nomena occurring in a HT-PEMFC [14e25]. Sousa et al. [18]
developed a dynamic two-dimensional (2-D), non-
isothermal model and investigated transient responses of
HT-PEMFCs under time-dependent changes in cell voltage
and external climate conditions. Shamardina et al. [19]
developed a simple 2-D, steady state, isothermal HT-PEMFC
model and numerically explored the effects of gas crossover
through the membrane on cell performance. Lobato et al. [20]
developed a 3-D single-phase half-cell model and investi-
gated the effects of flow channel configuration on cell per-
formance. Boaventura et al. [22] developed a dynamic 1-D,
isothermal model and mainly explored the transient behav-
iours of species transport in the bipolar plates, gas diffusion
layers and double layers. Regarding the effects of RH on HT-
PEMFCs, Sousa et al. [23] considered the RH dependence of
proton conductivity in their models. However, the water ab-
sorption and transport equations for a PA-doped PBI mem-
brane and relevant simulation results were not presented in
their paper. Jiao and Li [24] derived the proton conductivity
expression as a function of temperature, doping level, and RH
using the proton conductivity data measured by Ma et al. [7]
and He et al. [26]. However, they employed the volume
averaged RH of the anode and cathode CLs to estimate RH in
the membrane without considering water uptake and trans-
port between the membrane and CLs. Olapade et al. [27]
numerically investigated the effects of inlet feed gas hu-
midification on HT-PEMFC performance using a 1-D, non-
isothermal HT-PEMFC model. However, they adopted the
same treatment of RH calculation for the membrane done by
Jiao and Li [24], i.e. flawed because it neglects water absorp-
tion and transport in the membrane.
In this study, we newly develop a water transport model for
a PA-doped PBI membrane via assuming the local interfacial
equilibrium between the gas and membrane phases of water
and subsequently incorporate it into our previous HT-PEMFC
model [28]. Due to lack of experimental data for water diffu-
sion coefficient through a PA-doped PBI membrane, we
numerically estimate it based on the water flux data
measured by Galbiati et al. [29]. The HT-PEMFC model coupled
with the new membrane water transport model is tested
against various experimental data given by Galbiati et al. [29].
A comparison between the simulation and experimental re-
sults is made and fully discussed. In addition, key multi-
dimensional contours within HT-PEMFCs such as membrane
water content, proton conductivity, current density, oxygen,
and cathode overpotential distributions are presented to
provide greater insight into detailed water transport processes
inside a HT-PEMFC and the effects of inlet RH and membrane
hydration on cell performance.
2. Numerical model
A three-dimensional, two-phase, non-isothermal, electro-
chemical-transport coupled HT-PEMFC model used for this
study is based on previous publications [28,30]. The govern-
ing equations, relevant source terms, electrochemical ki-
netics parameters, and physical properties at the anode and
cathode CLs are summarized in Tables 1e4, respectively. As
compared with our previous papers [28,30], note that the
values of the volumetric exchange current density for HOR
and ORR (denoted by airef
0 in Table 3) were reduced due to the
thicker anode and cathode CLs (i.e. 30 mm in Table 4) with the
same Pt-loading. Readers are referred to our previous publi-
cations [28,30] for a more detailed description of the model.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5 2769

Table 1 e High-temperature PEMFC model: governing equations.

Governing equations

Mass V$ðr!
u Þ ¼ Sm (1)
 
Momentum Flow channels ðNaviereStokes equationsÞ : 1=ε V$ðr!
2
u!u Þ ¼ Vp þ V$s (2)

Porous media ðDarcys equationsÞ: r! u ¼ ðK=nÞVp (3)

 
V$ð!
Species
i VCi þ Si
u Ci Þ ¼ V$ Deff (4)
 
Charge Proton transport : V$ keff VFe þ SF ¼ 0 (5)
 
Electron transport : V$ seff VFs  SF ¼ 0 (6)
   
Energy V$ rc !u T ¼ V$ keff VT þ S
p T (7)

2.1. Model assumptions transport in the CLs is through both gas and membrane pha-
ses and thus the total effective diffusivity is calculated as
The assumptions made with respect to the model include the
Deff ¼ εs DH2 O þ εsmem Dmem
g
following: H2 O (23)

where ε and εmem are the porosity and volume fraction of

1) The flow is incompressible and laminar because of a small membrane phase in the CL, respectively.
pressure gradient and low flow velocities. The proton conductivity of the PA-doped PBI membrane
2) The gas mixtures obey the ideal gas law because of low can be interpreted using an Arrhenius equation as:
pressure and high-temperature operation.


3) Water exists in the gas phase because of high operating AB Ea
s¼ exp (24)
temperatures (above the boiling point of water). T RT

where both A and B are pre-exponential factors and Ea, the

2.2. Transport properties activation energy. The experimental studies by Ma et al. [31]
showed that the activation energy sharply decreases with
The water transport equation in the membrane is obtained by low doping levels whereas no significant changes in the acti-
assuming the local interfacial equilibrium between the gas vation energy were observed at higher doping levels. Celtec
-P
and membrane phases of water as follows, 1000 MEAs considered in this work are based on high PA
doping, usually having PA content of more than 95 wt% or
JD ¼ Dmem
H2 O VCH2 O (22) doping level up to 70 [32] and thus the constant value of
20.0 kJ mol1 is used in this work. The pre-exponential factor,
where Dmem
H2 O denotes fictitious water diffusivity and will be A in Eq. (24) accounts for the effects of PA doping level on the
discussed in details in Section 3. On the other hand, the water membrane proton conductivity and is assumed to be constant

Table 2 e High-temperature PEMFC model: source/sink terms.

Source Anode CL Cathode CL
terms

H2 ja nxover
H nxover
O
SH2 ¼   2  2 2 (8)
2F dCL dCL
O2
jc nxover
O 1 nxover
H2
SO2 ¼  2  (9)
4F dCL 2 dCL
H 2O nxover
O2 jc nxover
SH2 O ¼ 2 (10a) SH2 O ¼  þ 2
H
(10b)
dCL 2F dCL
   
Mass
X ja MO2 nxover
O2  MH2 nxover
H2 X jc jc MH2 nxover
H2  MO2 nxover
O2
Sm ¼ Sk ¼ MH2 þ (11a) Sm ¼ Sk ¼ MO2  MH2 O þ (11b)
k
2F dCL k
4F 2F dCL
Charge SF ¼ ja (12a) S F ¼ jc (12b)


I2 2nxover
O2 I2 dUo Ixover
H2 dUo
Heat ST ¼ ja h þ þ DH H2
(13a) S T ¼ jc h þ þ j c T  h þ T (13b)
keff dCL keff dT dCL dT
2770 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5

Table 3 e High-temperature PEMFC model: electrochemical properties.

Description Anode CL Cathode CL Ref.
9 4
Exchange current 0.33  10 0.33  10 [24,30]
density  ratio
of the reaction
surface to the CL
3
volume, airef
0 (A m )
Reference H2/O2 molar 40.88 40.88
concentration
(mol m3)
Anodic transfer aa ¼ 0:5 [33]
coefficient
Cathodic transfer ac ¼ 0:65 [34,35]
coefficient
Thermodynamic 0 [30]
3
equilibrium 1:1669  0:24  10 ðT  373:15Þ (14)
potential, U0 (V)
Surface
overpotential, h (V) fs  fe  U0 ðwith fs ¼ 0Þ (15) fs  fe  U0 ðwith fs ¼ Vcell Þ (16)
Transfer current
density, j (A cm3) !1=2
 !3=4

CH2 aa þ ac CO2 ac Ixover
H2
ja ¼ airef
0;a Fh (17) jc ¼ airef
0;c exp  Fh þ (18)
CH2;ref Ru T CO2;ref Ru T dCL

8
X < Mi ¼ chemical formula of species i

Electrochemical reactions si Mi ¼ ne ; where
z
s ¼ stoichiometry coefficient (19)
: i
k n ¼ number of electrons transferred

Hydrogen oxidation reaction ðHORÞ at the anode side : H2  2Hþ ¼ 2e (20)

Oxygen reduction reaction ðORRÞ at the cathode side : 2H2 O  O2  4Hþ ¼ 4e (21)

(3.0  106 S$K m1). On the other hand, for the RH dependent keff ¼ ε1:5
mc k (26)
term, B, the correlation given by Jiao and Li [24], i.e. based on
the experimental measurements of Ma et al. [7] and He et al.
2.3. Numerical implementation, computational domain,
[26] is chosen. That is:
and boundary conditions
8
< 1 þ ð0:01704T  4:767ÞRH if 373:15 K  T  413:15 K
The HT-PEMFC model described in Section 2 is numerically
B ¼ 1 þ ð0:1432T  56:89ÞRH if 413:15 K  T  453:15 K
: implemented in a commercial computational fluid dynamics
1 þ ð0:7T  309:2ÞRH if 453:15 K  T  473:15 K
(CFD) program, FLUENT, basing on its user-defined functions
(25)
(UDF). The convergence criteria for all species and energy
The effective proton conductivity in the CLs is obtained by calculation residuals are set to 108. Fig. 1 shows the mesh
combining the effects of the volume fraction of the membrane configuration of the simple single-straight channel HT-PEMFC
phase and tortuosity of the porous medium by using Brugge- geometry. The cell dimensions and operating conditions are
mann’s correlation: given in Table 5. As described in Fig. 1, the isothermal

Table 4 e Physical properties.

Description Value Ref.

Porosity of GDL, CL 0.6, 0.3 [24]

Volume fraction of ionomers in CL 0.4 [24]
Permeability of GDL, CL 1  1012, 1.0  1013 m2 [28]
Water diffusivity in the membrane 1  107 m2 s1
Electronic conductivity in the GDL, CL, BP 250, 300, 14,000 S m1 [28]
Specific heat capacities of GDL, CL, membrane, BP 568, 3300, 1650, 2930 J kg1 K1 [24]
Specific heat capacities of species e H2, O2, N2, H2O 14,430, 929, 1042, 1968 J kg1 K1 [36]
Thermal conductivities of GDL, CL, membrane, BP 1.2, 1.5, 0.95, 20 W m1 K1 [37]
Thermal conductivities of species e H2, O2, N2, H2O 0.2040, 0.0296, 0.0293, 0.02378 W m1 K1 [36]
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5 2771

Fig. 1 e Computational domain and mesh configuration of Fig. 2 e Comparison of calculated and measured water
a single-channel HT-PEMFC geometry [30]. molar flux for different operating current densities for the
cases of dry reactants and cathode humidification
(Tsat [ 50
C).

boundary condition is applied to the anode and cathode side

walls of the computational cell for temperature calculations
the water diffusion coefficient in this study was assumed to be
whereas the symmetric boundary condition is assumed on the
constant regardless of inlet RHs and operating current den-
top and bottom surfaces. In addition, the no-flux condition is
sities. Fig. 2 compares the measured and calculated water
applied to the outer faces for flow and species transport
molar flux from the cathode to anode at different operating
equations except for the channel inlets and outlets. The inlet
current densities in which the diffusivity value of
velocities in the anode and cathode gas channels can be
1.0  107 m2 s1 was taken for the simulations. Even though
expressed as functions of the anode and cathode stoichio-
the simulated water flux in both dry reactant and cathode
metric ratios, the operating current density, the cross-
humidification cases overpredicts the experimental data, it is
sectional areas of the anode and cathode GCs, and the con-
seen that general membrane water transport characteristics
centrations of hydrogen and oxygen, which are functions of
observed in the experimental data were reasonably captured
the anode/cathode inlet pressure and temperature:
by the model. Both simulated and measured water crossover
xa ðI=2FÞAmem x ðI=4FÞAmem fluxes from the cathode to anode increase with current den-
uin;a ¼ and uin;c ¼ c (27)
CH2 Aa;chan CO2 Ac;chan sity because the water production rate in the cathode side
becomes higher with increasing current density. In addition,

3. Results and discussion

The first step for model validation is to estimate the effective

water diffusion coefficient in the membrane based on the
water flux data given by Galbiati et al. [29]. As the first attempt,

Table 5 e Cell dimensions and operating conditions.

Description Value

Cell length 0.1 m

Anode/cathode channel/rib width 0.8  103 m
Anode/cathode channel height 0.7  103 m
Thickness of the anode GDLs 345  106 m
Thickness of the cathode GDLs 370  106 m
Thickness of the anode/cathode CLs 30  106 m
Thickness of the membrane 100  106 m
Anode/cathode inlet pressure 1.0 atm Fig. 3 e Comparison of calculated and measured ohmic cell
Anode stoichiometry 1.2 (pure H2) resistances at different operating current densities for the
Cathode stoichiometry 2.0 (air)
cases of dry reactants and cathode humidification
Anode/cathode inlet temperature 433.15 K
(Tsat [ 50
C).
2772 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5
Fig. 4 e Comparison of calculated polarization curves with
the experimental data for the cases of dry reactants and
cathode humidification (Tsat [ 50
C).
as expected, the higher water transport to anode is predicted
with the cathode humidification. These trends confirm that
water transport across the PBI membrane is mainly deter-
mined by the gradient of water concentration between the
anode and cathode.
Fig. 3 shows a comparison of calculated and measured
ohmic cell resistances for different operating current den-
sities and reactant humidification rates. In both numerical
simulations and experimental measurements, ohmic cell
resistance is reduced with the cathode air humidification. As
the external water vapour pressure increases, it is expected
that the water uptake of PBI membrane is increased. There-
fore, the trend clearly indicates that conductivity network
for proton transfer in PA-doped PBI membranes is better
Fig. 5 e (a) Oxygen and (b) Overpotential distributions in the cathode CL for the cases of dry reactants and cathode
humidification with Tsat [ 50
C at 0.5 A cmL2.
established with higher water content in the membrane,
which is consistent with the discussion of Ma et al. [7]. In the
low current density region, a relatively good match between
the simulation results and experimental data can be seen.
However, agreement in the high current density region re-
mains unsatisfactory: while the calculated ohmic cell re-
sistances continue to decrease with increasing current
density, measured ohmic resistances were almost kept as
constant. The discrepancy at the high current densities un-
derlines that there must be negative influence of RH on PBI
membrane proton conductivity and resultant cell ohmic
resistance. One of possible reasons may be due to increasing
PA leaching with reactant humidification, which is not
considered in the current version of a HT-PEMFC model.
Fig. 4 compares the calculated polarization curves with
the experimental data for the cases of dry reactants and
cathode humidification. First, it is observed in the experi-
mental data that the cathode humidification leads to slightly
lower cell performance, which was successfully captured by
the model. The trend implies that as the cathode humidifi-
cation is applied to the cell, the effect of decreasing oxygen
partial pressure (negative effect) dominates over the effect of
proton transfer enhancement in the membrane (positive
effect). In a comparison of the simulation results and
experimental data, good agreement is achieved in the low
current density region. However, it is appears that cell
voltages in the high current density region were over-
predicted by the model. The discrepancy between the sim-
ulations and experiments can be attributed to the behavior
of cell ohmic resistance as a function of current density, i.e.
discussed in Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 displays the oxygen and overpotential distributions
in the cathode CL for the cases of dry reactants and cathode
humidification at 0.5 A cm2. When the air in the cathode inlet
is humidified, more severe oxygen depletion is observed near
the cathode outlet (see Fig. 5a), which clearly shows the
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5
Fig. 6 e (a) Water concentration, (b) Proton conductivity and (c) Current density distributions in the membrane for the cases
of dry reactants and cathode humidification at 0.5 A cmL2.
influence of a negative decrease of oxygen partial pressure by
the cathode air humidification. Consequently, as seen in
Fig. 5b, the higher cathode overpotential is predicted with the
cathode humidification and the overall difference between
the cases of dry reactants and cathode humidification is
around 11.6 mV.
The water concentration (i.e. fictitious one calculated by
Eq. (22)), proton conductivity, and current density distribu-
tions in the membrane for the same cases are plotted in Fig. 6.
As shown in Fig. 6a, the water concentration in the PBI
membrane for both cases increases towards the cathode
outlet due to water production by ORR. In addition, it is clear
that the cathode humidification results in the higher water
concentration in the membrane. The proton conductivity
distributions in Fig. 6b exhibit the same trends as the water
concentration profiles in Fig. 6a because the proton conduc-
tivity was assumed to be an increasing function with the
external RH (see Eq. (25)). Finally, the current density distri-
butions in the membrane in Fig. 6c show increasing trend
2773
towards the cathode downstream, which indicates that cell
performance is mainly controlled by oxygen transport rather
than proton transfer in the PBI membrane.
4. Conclusions
In this study, a water transport model for a PA-doped PBI
membrane was developed by assuming the local interfacial
equilibrium between the gas phase and the membrane phase
of water and subsequently incorporated it into a compre-
hensive HT-PEMFC model developed in the previous publica-
tion [28]. Due to the lack of experimental data regarding water
crossover diffusivity through the PBI membrane, we first
estimated a constant fitting diffusivity of 1.0  107 m2 s1
based on the water crossover flux data experimentally
measured by Galbiati et al. [29]. Using the water crossover
diffusivity value, the 3-D simulations were carried out in order
to validate the HT-PEMFC model against several types of
2774 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 9 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 2 7 6 7 e2 7 7 5

experimental data given by Galbiati et al. [29], i.e. the water Greek symbols
crossover flux, cell ohmic resistance, and cell performance a transfer coefficient
data. In general, the simulation results matched well with the ε porosity
experimental data at low current densities but showed lack of d thickness
agreement in the high current density region. The discrepancy εmc volume fraction of the ionomer phase in the CL
at the high current densities can be attributed to the different 4 phase potential, V
trends of simulated and measured ohmic resistances as the h overpotential, V
cell current density varies: the calculated cell ohmic resis- m viscosity, kg m1 s1
tance continues to decrease with current density whereas the y kinematic viscosity, m2 s1
measured ohmic resistance is roughly a constant at the high s electronic conductivity, S m1
current densities. Therefore, there must be negative effect of r density, kg m3
increasing RH on the proton conductivity of PBI membranes s viscous shear stress, N m2
such as increasing PA leaching with reactant humidification. k ionic conductivity, S m1
In both simulations and experiments, the overall cell perfor- x stoichiometry flow ratio
mance was slightly lowered with the cathode humidification,
which is clearly indicative of more dominant effect of
decreasing oxygen partial pressure over improvement in the Superscripts
proton conductivity with increasing RH. The multi- eff effective value in the porous region
dimensional contours obtained from the simulations g gas
confirm the fact, showing clear decreasing trend of membrane ref reference value
current density towards the cathode downstream. mem membrane
xover crossover

Acknowledgement Subscripts
a anode
This work was supported by the New & Renewable Energy c cathode
R&D program (grant no. 2010T100200501) of the Ministry of CL catalyst layer
Knowledge Economy of the government of the Republic of GC gas channel
Korea. The authors also would like to thank TAE-SUNG S&E, GDL gas diffusion layer
INC. for providing technical supports to use ANSYS-FLUENT H2 hydrogen
for fuel cell simulation. i species index
in channel inlet
m mass equation
Nomenclature e electrolyte
s solid
mem membrane
A area, m2 O2 oxygen
Cp specific heat, J kg1 K1 u momentum equation
C molar concentration, mol m3 sat saturation value
Di mass diffusivity of species i, m2 s1 chan channel
F faraday constant, 96,487 C mol1 H2O water
i0 exchange current density, A m2 F potential equation
I operating current density, A m2 0 standard condition, viz., 298.15 K and 101.3 kPa
J molar flux, mol m2 s1 (1 atm)
j transfer current density, A m3
K hydraulic permeability, m2
M molecular weight, kg mol1 references
p partial pressure, Pa
n number of electrons in the electrochemical reaction
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k thermal conductivity, W m K1 J Membr Sci 2001;185:3e27.
H thermal conductivity, W m K1 [2] Wainright JS, Wang JT, Weng D, Savinell RF, Litt MH. Acid-
R universal gas constant, 8.314 J mol1 K1 doped polybenzimidazoles: a new polymer electrolyte. J
Electrochem Soc 1995;142(7):L121e3.
S source term in the conservation equation
[3] Samms SR, Wasmus S, Savinell RF. Thermal stability of
T temperature, K
! proton conducting acid doped polybenzimidazole in
u fluid velocity and superficial velocity in a porous simulated fuel cell environments. J Electrochem Soc
medium, m s1 1996;143(4):1225e32.
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