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PEM Fuel Cell Water Management — 2D Cross-Channel View

Interactive 2D simulation of water balance across a PEM fuel cell membrane: a genuine two-dimensional diffusion-drift field spanning membrane thickness AND gas-channel length shows how electro-osmotic drag, back-diffusion, and along-channel product-water buildup jointly set the hydration map.

Energy & Thermodynamics2DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

A proton-exchange membrane only conducts if it stays wet: protons hop from one water-bound sulfonic-acid site to the next in a Grotthuss chain, and that hopping stalls the moment the membrane dries out. This 2D companion simulation solves a real two-dimensional diffusion–drift equation for water content across both the membrane's thickness and the length of the gas flow channel — pitting electro-osmotic drag against back-diffusion through-plane, while product water from the oxygen-reduction reaction accumulates along the channel and makes the cathode progressively wetter from inlet to outlet. That along-channel gradient is a genuinely distinct mechanism from the thickness-only 3D version: push current up, switch the anode feed to dry, and watch the inlet corner of the membrane dry out first while the outlet stays protected by locally wetter cathode gas.

⚙ Under the hood

A genuine 2-D diffusion-drift simulation of water content across a PEM fuel cell membrane, spanning both thickness (anode-cathode, electro-osmotic drag vs. back-diffusion) and gas-channel length (inlet-outlet, along-channel product-water accumulation) — showing hydration, ohmic loss and Grotthuss proton hopping vary across the whole 2-D map, not just through the membrane.

fuel cellPEMNafionproton conductivityelectro-osmotic dragmembrane hydrationgas channel flow

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install