Water/ice identification in a model PEFC using energy-selective high-resolution neutron imaging

Song, F.; 樋口 雄紀*; 日比 章五*; 吉宗 航*; 加藤 悟*; 篠原 武尚   

Song, F.; Higuchi, Yuki*; Hibi, Shogo*; Yoshimune, Wataru*; Kato, Satoru*; Shinohara, Takenao

In this work, we have applied the energy-selective neutron radiography to visualize the freezing and thawing of water in different cavity layers of a fuel cell by taking cross-sectional neutron transmission images, as a preliminary experiment for further operando water/ice identification observations on PEFCs. A miniature size of a fuel cell, which consisted of gas diffusion layers (GDLs) and aluminum frames with gas channels produced by 3D printing technique, was prepared as a model cell sample. This model fuel cell was filled with water and cooled by a Peltier cooler down to -10 degree C. Consecutive high-resolution energy-selective neutron imaging was conducted throughout the freezing process at the RADEN instrument in J-PARC MLF. By taking the ratio of logarithms of neutron transmission between long and short wavelength neutrons, we defined a water/ice identification parameter to confirm freezing of water within the cell. This parameter was spatially resolved on the neutron transmission images to map the water/ice distribution in each layer of the model fuel cell as it was cooled to sub-zero temperatures. In the presentation, we will discuss the spatial and temporal resolution capacities of the high-resolution energy-selective neutron imaging at the RADEN instrument, and show results of the water/ice identification experiments on the cross-sectional observation of the PEFC.