Metal Foam‐Leaf Vein Stratified Flow Field for Enhanced Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Current efforts to address the uneven reactant distribution in the metal foam flow field (MFFF) of proton exchange membrane fuel cells suffer from complex design parameters or reintroduction of rib structures. Meanwhile, biomimetic flow fields suffer from persistent under‐rib transport limitations or are constrained by specific inlet and outlet arrangements. To overcome these challenges, a systematic numerical simulation is conducted in this article. First, the effects of reactant uniformity on the performance of cells with MFFFs are reexamined. The MFFF layout encounters the same challenge of uneven reactant distribution as the conventional parallel flow field layout, with even more pronounced adverse effects. Second, a novel metal foam‐leaf vein stratified flow field (MFLVSFF) is proposed. Compared to the MFFF configuration, the MFLVSFF improves reactant uniformity by 22.46%, thereby enhancing cell performance by 13.90% at 0.4 V operating voltage. The associated parasitic loss is minimal. The core lies in the fact that the MFFF and leaf vein flow field function as the fundamental transport and the optimized control, respectively. On this basis, a design methodology is proposed. Third, the flexibility, convenience, scalability, and robustness of the novel design are demonstrated via the application and comparison under various conditions.