The gas permeability influence the performance of PEM fuel cell and on which factors gas permeability dependence. Is this kind of dependance is nonlinear.
The heart of the PEM fuel cell is a thin polymer membrane. This membrane must
conduct protons on the one hand and must be impermeable to the reactant gases
hydrogen and oxygen as well as to the electrons, produced and consumed at both
electrodes on the other hand.
Traditionally, for gas permeability relations normally Darcy's formula is utilized for a system of mixed gases. While for mean free paths that are comparable to the scale of the system, Knudsen diffusion is considered.