Observation of water distribution in a PEFC cell by neutron imaging

Yasuda, Ryo; Sakai, Takuro; Nojima, Takehiro; Iikura, Hiroshi  ; Matsubayashi, Masahito  ; Nitto, Koichi*; Konagai, Chikara*; Shiozawa, Masahiro*; Murakawa, Hideki*; Sugimoto, Katsumi*; Asano, Hitoshi*; Takenaka, Nobuyuki*

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) are expected as one of the clean energy sources in next generation. The water management is one of important subjects for enhance of stability and durability of the PEFC. Neutron radiography is one of useful tools to visualize water behavior in operating fuel cells. In order to observe the detailed information about the water distribution in fuel cells, we developed an imaging system using a neutron color image intensifier which is novel neutron image detector with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity. By using the imaging system, the water distribution in a small sized fuel cell during operation was visualized. In this paper we would report results and discussion about correlation between the water behavior and fuel cell performance.