In this study, the effect of location, wettability, and thickness of the hydrophilic layer and also the effect of microporous layer (MPL) thickness on the dynamic water transport in the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is investigated using the Lattice Boltzmann method. The effect of the presence of hydrophilic layer and MPL on the number of dominant flow paths, liquid water breakthrough sites, liquid water loops, liquid water pools, and time required to reach steady-state for 12 cases have been investigated. Results showed that if the hydrophilic layer is near the MPL/GDL interface, flooding will occur. Also, comparing with purely hydrophobic GDL, reduction of hydrophilic layer thickness in the GDL/GC interface reduces the water saturation level by 11.8% and the time required to reach steady-state by 8.88%. Moreover, this study indicated that adding a thin layer of MPL at the catalyst layer (CL)/GDL interface with present a hydrophilic thin layer at the GDL/gas channel (GC) interface reduces the liquid water saturation level by 50.1% and the steady-state time by 38.9%. Furthermore, the details of the dynamic behavior of water in the GDL under different hydrophilic conditions have been reported and discussed.

在这项研究中，亲水层的位置、润湿性和厚度的影响以及微孔层 (MPL) 厚度对聚合物电解质膜燃料电池 (PEMFC) 气体扩散层 (GDL) 中动态水传输的影响使用格子 Boltzmann 方法进行研究。已经研究了亲水层和 MPL 的存在对主要流动路径数量、液态水突破点、液态水回路、液态水池以及 12 种情况下达到稳态所需的时间的影响。结果表明，如果亲水层靠近 MPL/GDL 界面，就会发生溢流。此外，与纯疏水 GDL 相比，GDL/GC 界面中亲水层厚度的减少使水饱和度水平降低了 11.8%，达到稳态所需的时间减少了 8。88%。此外，该研究表明，在催化剂层 (CL)/GDL 界面处添加薄层 MPL 并在 GDL/气体通道 (GC) 界面处存在亲水薄层可将液态水饱和度降低 50.1%，并且稳定-状态时间减少了 38.9%。此外，已经报道和讨论了不同亲水条件下 GDL 中水的动态行为的细节。