Simulation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells and their engineering applications: a review

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) directly convert the chemical energy of hydrogen into electrical energy through electrochemical reactions. PEMFC has the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency, low operating temperature, fast start-up speed, and zero carbon emissions. These advantages make them of significant importance for China to achieve its dual carbon goals. The internal processes of PEMFCs involve complex multi-physical field coupling, making traditional theoretical analytical methods difficult to apply. Experimental research also faces limitations such as high costs, long cycles, and insufficient resolution, which are hard to meet the rapid iteration requirements of engineering applications. Numerical simulation technology offers an effective way to break through these research bottlenecks, enabling in-depth exploration of the multi-field coupling mechanisms within PEMFC stacks, and quantitatively revealing the impact of key parameters on performance. It has become an effective tool for performance prediction and parameter sensitivity analysis in the design of PEMFCs. The author’s team has been researching fuel cells since the beginning of this century. In this paper, a brief review is presented for the research progress of numerical simulation of PEMFC stacks worldwide since 2006. The paper consists of eight parts: (1) membrane electrode assembly models, (2) macroscopic models of single cells, (3) multi-scale models of single cells, (4) numerical models of PEMFC stacks, (5) numerical models in operation processes, (6) control models of PEMFC systems, (7) efficient analysis models, and (8) application practice of numerical methods in the development of high-power fuel cell stacks. The following further research needs are proposed. (1) For the catalyst model, it is suggested that the cooperative effect between electrons and protons should be taken into account in the agglomerate model. (2) In the membrane electrode assembly, the empirical Leverett-J equation was originally derived based on summarizing the data of liquid conduction in loose gravel, and is still widely used to date in PEMFCs. Several new calculation formulae were proposed. Further comparison, assessment and improvement are needed. (3) The numerical model of PEMFCs contains a large number of parameters. To reveal the influence of each parameter (or dimensionless quantities composed of several parameters) on the output characteristics, it is urgent to conduct in-depth research on the application of similar principles and artificial intelligence. (4) A comericial-size PEMFC stack is generally composed of hundreds of individual cells. How to simulate and obtain the complete multi-physical quantity distribution characteristics of the entire PEMFC stack under the condition of acceptable computing resources is a major challenge.