Membrane fuel cell countercurrent-fed with non-humidified air

A membrane fuel cell delimited by bipolar plates comprising:

• an anode, a cathode, and a polymeric membrane interposed between the anode and the cathode,
• a cathodic compartment disposed between a first bipolar plate and the cathode, and
• an anodic compartment disposed between a second bipolar plate and the anode, wherein
• said cathodic compartment comprising a flowfield and a dry air inlet disposed about the bottom of the cathodic compartment through which dry air enters the cathodic compartment, and an exhaust air outlet disposed about the top of the cathodic compartment through which exhaust air is discharged from the cathodic compartment,
• said anodic compartment comprising a flowfield and a hydrogen-containing fuel inlet disposed about the top of the anodic compartment through which a hydrogen-containing fuel enters the anodic compartment, and an anodic exhaust outlet disposed about the bottom of the anodic compartment through which anodic exhaust is discharged from the anodic compartment,
• at least one of said cathodic and anodic compartment comprises a porous material providing an open flowfield,
• wherein flow of dry air from the bottom of the cathodic compartment to the top of the cathodic compartment through the flowfield therein is countercurrent to flow of hydrogen-containing fuel from the top of the anodic compartment to the bottom of the anodic compartment through the flowfield therein,
• wherein the porous material is in form of a porous planar element, the porous planar element consisting of a three-dimensional, reticulated, open-cell, metallic foam,
• and wherein the porous material has a porosity dimensioned with a void volume/total volume ratio equal to or higher than 75% such that the generated gaseous flow pressure variation is between 0.1 and 0.5 bar.