Measuring Thermal Conductivity of Single Thickness Fibrous Gas Diffusion Layers Using Transient Plane Source Method
Authors: Soares Victor , McCague Claire , Pascal Kim , Alvar Esmaeil Navaei , Bahrami Majid 
Published: February 2024

In a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the gas diffusion layer (GDL) is a porous material placed between the flow field plates and the catalyst layer. Its primary responsibility is to distribute reactants evenly across the surface of the catalyst layer while allowing for the removal of excess water and heat produced during operation. The GDL is typically made of a carbon-based material, such as carbon paper or carbon cloth, which is treated with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) to become hydrophobic. This treatment allows it to repel water and facilitate the transport of gases such as hydrogen and oxygen during operation. The thermal conductivity of the GDL plays a crucial role in managing the heat and water of PEMFCs.

The Guarded Heat Flow (GHF) technique is a well-established steady-state method for measuring the thermal conductivity of carbon fiber papers. This is achieved by testing two different thicknesses of a material that have an identical structure [1-3]. Using this two-thickness method, as per ASTM standard C177-19e1 [4], enables the bulk thermal conductivity to be deconvoluted from the thermal contact resistance at the interface between the sample and the measurement device's surface (an interfacial phenomenon). However, materials with identical structures for two-thickness measurements are not always available for commercial GDLs. In this study, we compare the transient plane source (TPS) thin film method, which measures the thermal conductivity of single thickness GDL samples, with the two-thickness GHF method for measuring thermal conductivity.

In this study, GDL samples with the same bulk structure and manufactured in two thicknesses were used: Sigracet series 24BA and 34BA with original thicknesses of 190 µm and 280 µm, respectively. A custom-built Thickness Under Compression and Resistance Under Compression machine (TUC-RUC) was utilized to measure the thickness of the samples under loads ranging from 0.35 MPa to 2 MPa. The thickness under compression was measured for five samples (25.4 mm diameter) of each type of GDL. The standard deviation for each sample thickness was below 4%. As shown in Fig. 1, the stress-strain response of the GDL samples was measured and analyzed to assess the similarity in their mechanical structures. Consistent with the assumptions that both samples have the same structure, the GDL samples with two different thicknesses displayed identical stress-strain behavior under compression, as shown by the curve-fit for stress-strain behavior in proposed Fig. 1.

The thermal conductivity of the samples was measured using both the TPS thin films method, as per ISO 2207-2:2022 [5], and the GHFM. On the TPS, three samples of each type of GDL were measured three times. The measured thermal conductivities increased with compression, ranging from 0.15 to 0.47 W/mK, with a standard deviation of less than 5% for each measurement. The results from the TPS technique for a single thickness of GDL were compared with the two-thickness measurements conducted using the GHFM, as shown in Figure 2. The GHFM tests were conducted on three samples of each type of GDL at five compressive loads, and the standard deviation on the deconvoluted thermal conductivity was less than 7% for each measurement. The values measured by the two techniques were found to be in good agreement, with a relative difference of within 6%. This study demonstrates that the transient plane source (TPS) method, when combined with an accurate thickness measurement technique, is a precise technique for determining the bulk thermal conductivity of commercial GDLs produced in a single thickness.

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[4] “Test Method for Steady-State Heat Flux Measurements and Thermal Transmission Properties by Means of the Guarded-Hot-Plate Apparatus.” ASTM International. Doi: 10.1520/c0177-19e01.

[5] “ISO22007-2, Plastics-determination of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity-part 2: transient plane heat source (hot disc) method”, 2022.

Figure 1