An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry

Some of the porous sheet materials used in fuel cells and batteries hardly permit gas flow through the thickness: of the sheet, although flow parallel to the sheet is appreciable. Determination of the porosity of such materia ls is not possible by the available techniques. A novel technique based on flow porometry is reported. This technique can measure the pore structure o f such porous sheets. A composite porous sheet material containing one of t he electrodes and the separator in two layers was investigated. The largest port diameter, the mean flow pore diameter and the pore size distributions were measured. The pore structures of both layers were identified. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.