This week, I would like to highlight the paper by Xu et al., which reports a methodological study of liquid water distribution in gas diffusion layers of PEFC by using a synchrotron based operando X-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM). The authors were able to capture water dynamics in 4D by coupling ex-situ and in-situ XTM experiments. This method should be of interest to the community of fuel cells, electrolyzers, and batteries. (Contact author: Jens Ellen at jens.eller@psi.ch)

 

I also enjoyed reading Rob Darling’s theoretical paper on resistance of oxygen transport in air electrodes containing high surface area carbon (e.g. Ketjenblack). This work is an extension of his 2018 JES paper, which reported an analytical model for nanoscale transport resistance in air electrodes that contains low surface area carbon (e.g. Vulcan XC-72). His very recent JES paper was equally interesting which described a model to examine resistance of proton transport in catalyst layers with various Pt/C ratios. (Contact author: Robert M. Darling at darlinrm@utrc.utc.com)

 

I would like to thank all of the reviewers for their diligent and continuing service to The Electrochemical Society, which made the following publications possible.

 

With best regards,

 

Xiao-Dong Zhou

Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers, and Energy Conversion Technical Editor

Journal of The Electrochemical Society

 

Journal of The Electrochemical Society

 

Architecture-Based Control of Temperature Gradient-Driven Water Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

J. M. LaManna, D. S. Aaron, and M. M. Mench

Read now | Open access

 

A Predictive Thermodynamic-Based Model for Proton Conductivity of Proton Exchange Membranes Based on Poly(Benzimidazole)/Poly(Acrylic Acid) Blend

Zohre Taherkhani, Mahdi Abdollahi, and Alireza Sharif

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Modeling Oxygen Transport in High Surface Area Carbon Supports for Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Robert M. Darling and Sergei F. Burlatsky

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Optimal Image Denoising for In Situ X-ray Tomographic Microscopy of Liquid Water in Gas Diffusion Layers of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Hong Xu, Minna Bührer, Federica Marone, Thomas J. Schmidt, Felix N. Büchi, and Jens Eller

Read now | Open access

 

Mn-doped Ni(OH)2 Nanostructures as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation in Basic Solution

Shengliang Wei and Yuqing Miao

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Improving the Catalytic Performance of Co/N/C Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction by Alloying with Fe

Guofeng Liang, Jilin Huang, Jiawang Li, Yinlong Wu, Guoju Huang, Yan Qi Jin, Hongbin Zeng, Hao Zhang, Jian Chen, Yanshuo Jin, Nan Wang, Fangyan Xie, and Hui Meng

Read now