The porous electrode under the rib area suffers from lower local oxygen concentration and more severe water flooding than that under the channel, which significantly affect the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. To improve the oxygen concentration and water drainage under the rib, a series of novel flow fields with auxiliary channels equipped with through-plane arrayed holes were manufactured by three-dimensional (3D) metal printing, and the cell performance, ohmic resistance and pressure drop were experimentally and numerically studied, respectively. The novel fields were based on the sophisticated modification of traditional serpentine and parallel flow fields, that significantly improved the cell performance at high current density with an optimal number or length of the auxiliary channels, owing to the trade-off between the electric resistance and mass transfer under the rib. This novel flow field design solved the trilemma of performance, pressure drop and manufacture feasibility through the implementation of 3D printing technology.

中文翻译：

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三维金属印刷新型流场提高质子交换膜燃料电池肋下氧浓度和除水性能

肋条下的多孔电极比通道下的局部氧浓度低，水淹严重，严重影响质子交换膜燃料电池的性能。为了提高肋下的氧气浓度和排水性，通过三维（3D）金属打印制造了一系列带有辅助通道的新型流场，这些流场配有通平面排列的孔，以及电池性能、欧姆电阻和压降。分别进行了实验和数值研究。新场基于对传统蛇形流场和平行流场的复杂修改，通过优化数量或长度的辅助通道显着提高了高电流密度下的电池性能，由于肋下电阻和传质之间的权衡。这种新颖的流场设计通过实施3D打印技术解决了性能、压降和制造可行性的三难困境。