In this thesis, synchrotron radiography was utilized to image liquid water distributions in the porous polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) gas diffusion layers (GDLs). GDLs were compressed in an ex situ flow field apparatus with 1mm x 1mm channels, and injected with liquid water to study the effect of current density and microstructure on through-plane GDL liquid water distributions. The effect of the size of the water inlet on GDL liquid water distribution was also investigated. Micro-computed tomography was employed to characterize the effect of flow field compression on commercial and non-commercial GDLs. Porosity distributions of compressed GDLs were compared with those of uncompressed GDLs, and the effect of microstructure on the porosity was discussed. The experimental techniques documented in this thesis will inform future research, while the results will help modellers generate realistic GDL pore structures for multiphase flow simulations and validate their models.

In this thesis, synchrotron radiography was utilized to image liquid water distributions in the porous polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) gas diffusion layers (GDLs). GDLs were compressed in an ex situ flow field apparatus with 1mm x 1mm channels, and injected with liquid water to study the effect of current density and microstructure on through-plane GDL liquid water distributions. The effect of the size of the water inlet on GDL liquid water distribution was also investigated. Micro-computed tomography was employed to characterize the effect of flow field compression on commercial and non-commercial GDLs. Porosity distributions of compressed GDLs were compared with those of uncompressed GDLs, and the effect of microstructure on the porosity was discussed. The experimental techniques documented in this thesis will inform future research, while the results will help modellers generate realistic GDL pore structures for multiphase flow simulations and validate their models.