Experimental Investigation of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell with Commercial Stainless Steel Fiber Felt as Flow Field

Porous metal materials have been recognized as a promising substitute for the conventional ribchannel flow field of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Few studies have been reported on metal fiber felts as PEMFC flow fields, although they have many favorable properties. In this work, the structure feasibility of metal fiber felts as flow fields of PEMFC is explored experimentally. Five types of gold-plated commercial stainless steel fiber felts (CSSFFs) are investigated and compared with conventional serpentine flow field. The results indicate that the performances of fuel cells with CSSFF flow fields are improved significantly. In particular, fuel cell with BZ100D flow field performs the best among all CSSFFs, generating about 2.0 A·cm-2 at 0.6 V, and the maximum power density is approximately 1.25 W·cm-2 at 2.5 A·cm-2. This work verifies that CSSFFs with conductive and corrosion resistant coating can be viable alternatives to conventional rib-channel flow field.