As offshore wind power migrates into deep, remote waters, the traditional single-source electricity-export model faces severe techno-economic fragility, primarily driven by prohibitive offshore transmission costs and finite onshore grid absorption capacity. To overcome these barriers, this structured review examines the transition from standalone wind farms to multifunctional integrated energy systems through a holistic resource-grid-load integration framework, within which generic objectives, balance relationships, operational constraints, and validation approaches are summarized as a standardized modeling reference. On the supply side, the analysis evaluates the spatiotemporal synergy of coupling wind with floating photovoltaics, wave energy converters, marine biomass, and ocean thermal energy, demonstrating how multi-energy complementarity dampens output fluctuations and enhances structural stability. On the demand side, the study critically explores diversified in situ utilization pathways, specifically low-trophic marine ranching, seawater electrolysis for green hydrogen and ammonia (Power-to-X), and the electrification of legacy oil and gas platforms. These demand-side load reconfigurations transform surplus electricity into storable chemical carriers, effectively relieving pressure on long-distance transmission corridors. Furthermore, this review addresses the strict geographic and economic boundary conditions of these pathways, indicating that preferred export and utilization pathways depend on distance, water depth, project scale, metocean conditions, market readiness, and cost assumptions. Finally, by assessing the technology readiness levels and intrinsic limitations of current configurations, this study proposes a three-stage research roadmap, providing the theoretical and methodological grounding necessary for future autonomous deep-sea multi-carrier energy hubs.

To manage the temperature of liquid-cooled lithium-ion batteries under complex operating conditions, an adaptive Long Short-Term Memory-Model Predictive Control (LSTM-MPC) collaborative control framework is proposed. The LSTM network performs multi-horizon short-term prediction of temperature rise based on historical current, voltage, and temperature profiles, while predictive uncertainty is quantified using Monte Carlo (MC) Dropout. An interval score-based weighting scheme is employed to fuse multi-horizon forecasts and provide reliable look-ahead information for the MPC controller, which optimizes coolant flow under thermal safety and pump power constraints. Under the US06 driving cycle, the maximum temperature overrun is reduced from 1.335 degrees C to 0.352 degrees C, while the over-temperature duration is shortened from 631 s to 202 s. For composite driving cycles at ambient temperatures of 30 degrees C, 35 degrees C, and 40 degrees C, pump energy consumption is reduced by 52%, 58%, and 37%, respectively, compared with constant-flow control, while maintaining comparable peak temperature. The results demonstrate that the proposed LSTM-MPC framework supports anticipatory pre-cooling and improved energy efficiency under thermal safety constraints, indicating promising potential for practical battery thermal management applications.

Traditional stochastic reconstruction method of paper-type gas diffusion layer (GDL) in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) faces the limitation of generation accuracy. Firstly, according to the derivation process of porosity, the coupling effect of carbon fiber porosity and structural element radius on the post-additive-addition structure porosity is proposed, along with an improved inverse derivation method for porosity distribution of GDL. According to the generation process, combined with the principle of morphological processing technology, the influencing factors and mechanism of the porosity of the generated structure are analyzed, and the fitting formula between the porosity and the influencing factors is proposed, with the R2 value of the fitting result larger than 0.98. Based on the above research, an improved two-stage reconstruction framework of GDL is proposed, which achieves high through-plane porosity distribution fidelity. The method shows good applicability for reconstruction across diverse carbon paper substrates with variations in thickness, porosity distribution, and PTFE content, providing an enhanced tool for precise control and optimal design of the structural and component distributions within GDLs.

This work investigates the combined effects of transverse magnetic fields, wall conductivity, inlet flow velocity and wall thickness on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow, heat transfer and mass transport within a vertical duct, as well as the mechanical performance of the conductive duct wall. A multi-region simulation platform based on the finite volume and the finite element methods is developed to model magneto-thermo-mass-fluid-structure coupling. The results indicate that, when the wall conductivity is low, the coupling effect between the magnetic field and the wall conductivity exhibits a magnetic-field-dominated mode. The magnetic field suppresses jets and reverse flow, with the maximum velocity scaling as U-rm(gamma c + 1) similar to Ha(-1/2) and the vortex center height scaling as H-v similar to Ha(1/3). Mass permeability and inventory decrease exponentially with increasing magnetic field strength. Thermal stress peaks at the Hartmann wall outlets, with a transition from disordered to regular temporal fluctuations as the magnetic field strength increases. The variation laws differ at high wall conductivities. A higher inlet velocity compresses the reverse vortices toward the outlet. The maximum reverse velocity decays as U-rm similar to lg(Re-1). It enhances convective heat and mass transfer, resulting in lower mass permeation and retention, as well as a monotonic reduction in solid wall stress. Thicker walls can weaken the right jet and reverse flow, raising the system temperature and local concentration, which enhances fluid-tosolid mass permeability and solid inventory and increases outlet stress. The maximum stress satisfies sigma(Mises.max)/sigma y similar to t(h)/a. This work improves the understanding of MHD duct flow and provides a foundation and support for engineering design and structural analysis.

Low-Pt proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) require cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) capable of mitigating coupled performance-durability trade-offs under variable-humidity operating conditions. Here, a mechanism-guided through-plane ionomer-gradient design is developed for a low-Pt CCL (0.1 mg cm−2) by integrating a three-dimensional multiphase PEMFC model, an agglomerate submodel, and regional sensitivity analysis. The analysis reveals relative humidity (RH)-dependent functional demands along the CCL thickness, motivating an asymmetric dual-segment power-law profile (ADSPLP) to parameterize the ionomer-to-carbon (I/C) ratio distribution using six physically interpretable variables. Single-factor analyses clarify how these variables reshape local transport and reaction distributions, followed by surrogate-assisted multi-RH robust optimization using 50% and 100% RH as boundary scenarios. The results show that dry operation benefits mainly from membrane-side proton-access enhancement that suppresses ohmic loss, whereas fully humidified operation requires stronger oxygen access on the microporous-layer side to alleviate concentration loss. Both single-sided improvements, however, tend to shift the high-reaction region away from the membrane side and increase reaction non-uniformity. The optimized ADSPLP achieves performance close to that of the RH-specific optima by mitigating the dominant bottlenecks at the dry and humid extremes, while preserving balanced proton and oxygen access to deliver the largest gain at intermediate humidity. Relative to the corresponding best uniform I/C designs, it increases peak net power by 3.30%–4.39% across 50%–100% RH while effectively limiting the growth in reaction non-uniformity. This study provides a mechanism-guided gradient-CCL optimization strategy and design guidance for humidity-adaptive low-Pt membrane electrode assemblies.

To enhance hydrogen fuel utilization and power density in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, persistent challenges in water management and efficient reactant transport at the cathode must be addressed. This study introduces and validates a novel gradient double-sided rectangular blockage flow field through a systematic methodology integrating experimental screening, numerical multi-objective optimization, and final experimental validation. Initial experiments evaluated various blockage geometries (triangular, rectangular, trapezoidal, and circular), identifying the rectangular profile as optimal for mass transport enhancement due to its vertical windward face. Multi-objective optimization determined the optimal blockage parameters (0.35 mm width, 0.6535 mm average height and the 0.0404 mm height increment), with experimental validation confirming that this design yields an 11.28 % enhancement compared to the traditional parallel channel. Numerical simulations validated enhanced reactant distribution and water management, with a 19.34 % increase in average oxygen concentration at the MPL/CL interface, a 13.64 % reduction in oxygen non-uniformity, improved water drainage from porous media, and preserved hydration in proton-conducting regions. The proposed cathode flow field provides a reliable approach to enhance reactant transport efficiency and address water management issues, offering a promising solution for next-generation high performance fuel cells.

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) self-cold start is strongly affected by flow-field design, especially in large-area cells where local transport non-uniformity can be readily amplified into regional freezing and performance degradation. In this work, a three-dimensional transient non-isothermal model was established to explore the self-cold start behavior of 112 cm2 large-area PEMFCs under different cathode flow-field configurations. Particular attention was given to the amplification of flow-field effects by start-up conditions, as well as to the flow-field-dependent spatial freezing characteristics. The results show that under the baseline self-cold start condition, the multi-channel serpentine flow field increased the peak current density by approximately 5.6%, and extended the failure time from 81 to 91 s. More importantly, its superiority was not simply associated with a lower average ice fraction, but with a more favorable freezing pattern. The multi-channel serpentine flow field suppressed early localized icing at the electrochemical reaction interface and delayed the coalescence of isolated ice spots into connected clusters. It also alleviated the direct freezing burden in the cathode catalyst layer, while part of the freezing tendency shifted toward the cathode gas diffusion layer. Lower start-up temperature intensified the consequence of local ice coalescence, whereas the effect of start-up voltage was non-monotonic, with 0.4 V providing the most favorable compromise between heat accumulation and freezing progression. These findings indicate that, for large-area PEMFCs, temperature uniformity and freezing topology are more critical than average thermal response alone, and that multi-channel serpentine cathode flow fields are more suitable for low-temperature start-up.

Reliable cold start of large-area proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) remains a key bottleneck for fuel cell vehicles, because most mechanistic studies have focused on small laboratory cells whose behavior cannot be directly extrapolated to large-scale devices. This study develops a transient three-dimensional non-isothermal multi-physics model of a 79.5 cm 2 PEMFC with an eleven-channel serpentine flow field to elucidate coupled heat, water and ice processes during self-cold start at -30 degrees C. On this basis, three start strategies are examined. The global responses reveal three characteristic stages: reaction-limited, self-heating dominated, and icing/transportlimited. These stages develop in a strongly non-uniform manner: downstream regions heat up faster than inlet zones, and the multi-channel serpentine geometry induces pronounced variations of temperature and current density. Higher ramps increase cathode catalyst layer (CL) heating rates from 0.88 to 1.86 K min - 1 , but also amplify temperature and current-density non-uniformity. Ice forms preferentially in the cathode CL, where limited gas-phase transport and low saturation vapor pressure hinder water removal, and then propagates into the gas diffusion layer (GDL). In-plane distribution and a quantitative uniformity index reveal that aggressive ramps promote early nucleation of ice clusters near channel bends and downstream regions, followed by rapid coalescence into extended ice-rich bands. Through-plane analysis shows that high ramps drive deep ice penetration into the GDL, whereas moderate ramps keep most ice confined near the CL. These results clarify how

The even distributions of anode, cathode and coolant are of critical significance to the efficiency and lifetime of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks. In this work, a multi-scale approach with upscaling strategy is developed for simulating the flow distribution, along with an efficient algorithm for calibrating the viscous and inertial resistance coefficients in the porous medium model. The proposed framework effectively balances computational accuracy and efficiency in full-scale stack simulations. The flow distribution characteristics of the anode, cathode, and coolant in a commercial-size PEMFC stack with 164 single cells are simulated and compared. Results suggest that the proposed algorithm can calibrate the resistance coefficients within only 11 inner iterations, offering a new approach for rapid and reliable parameter identification. For the studied PEMFC stack, the consideration of the species mass fraction in anode is of crucial importance to the trend of the flow distribution curve. The anode has the most uniform flow distribution, followed by the coolant, while the cathode has the worst flow distribution due to the vortex-dominant flow. The flow distribution uniformity of the U-type configuration generally surpasses that of the Z-type configuration. The U-type configuration may allow for the enhancement of flow distribution uniformity through the design of the eccentricity of end socket, while for the Z-type configuration, the eccentricity always worsens the flow distribution. The anode, cathode and coolant are recommended to be designed as U-type configuration with the eccentricities of 0, 0 and 0.6, respectively, providing reference for the design of the manifold.

The complete catalytic oxidation of ethane (C2H6) represents a critical challenge in volatile organic compound (VOC) abatement due to the high kinetic barrier for C-H bond scission and the sluggish oxygen cycling characteristic of conventional Pd-based catalysts. In this study, a metal-organic framework (MOF)-templated pyrolysis strategy was employed to construct a robust Pd@CeO2-P catalyst featuring a high density of Ce3+/VO defect pairs. The catalyst achieved a T90 of 314 degrees C for C2H6 oxidation, successfully lowering the reaction temperature by 36 degrees C compared to the hydrothermally synthesized Pd/CeO2-H. Concurrently, it delivered a remarkable TOF of 0.432 s-1 and a specific reaction rate (rs) of 24.69 nmol & sdot;m-2 & sdot;s-1 at 310 degrees C, substantially outperforming the reference catalyst by 9.63- and 2.21-fold, respectively. Systematic characterizations and in situ spectroscopic analyses demonstrated that Ce3+/VO defect pairs function as dynamic electron reservoirs, inducing a strong electronic metal-support interaction (EMSI) that effectively stabilizes the highly active Pd2+ state through continuous interfacial charge transfer at Pd2+-O-Ce3+ interfacial sites. Simultaneously, this synergistic electronic modulation significantly lowered the formation energy of VO, increasing the mobility and reactivity of surface lattice oxygen (Osur) to participate in the reaction. C2H6-TPR/TPSR and in situ DRIFTS analyses demonstrate that Pd2+-O-Ce3+ interfacial sites facilitate the initial C-H bond cleavage, while the Ce3+/VO electron reservoir promotes rapid gas-phase O2 activation and lattice oxygen replenishment, thereby effectively promoting the formation of acetate intermediates. Moreover, the catalyst demonstrated remarkable stability over 50 h of continuous operation, maintaining C2H6 conversion above 89%. This performance suggests significant potential for industrial applications in deep VOC mineralization.

Suboptimal cooling flow field configurations hinder efficient thermal management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), limiting performance and durability. To address this, integrated cooling configurations are proposed, along with their wavy integrated (WICs) and hybrid integrated variants. Parallel, tri-serpentine, and serpentine cooling channels are embedded into blocked reactant flow field, with alternating reactant-coolant flow configuration as a benchmark. Employing a three-dimensional multiphase PEMFC model, the thermal and electrochemical performance of these configurations is investigated across coolant temperature differences (ΔT). Theoretical resistance analysis and voltage loss decomposition are used to clarify how these designs improve heat transfer and thus electrical output via gas–water transport effects. Results indicate that, by regulating coolant flow and heat conduction patterns at ΔT = 3 K, WICs improve temperature uniformity relative to basic integrated configurations. Through full rib-width coverage with wavy structures, they also exhibit lower average temperature than hybrid setups and benchmark. This enhanced thermal performance shifts water phase equilibrium, promoting membrane hydration and vapor condensation, thereby elevating proton and oxygen availability, and cutting ohmic and concentration losses by approximately 0.05 V. Across varied ΔT levels, WICs consistently deliver optimal thermal and electrical performance, with greater uniformity advantages but diminished output gains as coolant flow rate rises. Balancing output gain against parasitic consumption, serpentine WIC proves optimal for ΔT of 10 K and 6 K, tri-serpentine for 3 K, and parallel for 1 K, yielding net power increases of 3.61%, 2.92%, 2.60%, and 1.96%, respectively, over the conventional parallel design. This work provides design insights into compact PEMFC cooling-unit development.

Clamping pressure applied during proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) assembly reduces interfacial contact resistance but impedes mass transport, yielding coupled beneficial and adverse effects on performance, which makes its optimal specification nontrivial. This study establishes an integrated framework that couples three-dimensional multiphase non-isothermal computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with two-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) and data-driven surrogate modeling to quantify these interactions and to enable rapid optimization. Deformation induced changes in geometry, gas diffusion layer porosity and permeability, and pressure dependent interfacial contact resistance are propagated into the transport and electrochemical model. Three surrogate models, namely the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), support vector regression (SVR), and Gaussian process regression (GPR) are trained on the coupled CFD and FEA dataset to predict power density over the design space of operating voltage and clamping pressure. Results reveal region-specific effects of clamping pressure: In the activation-loss-dominated regime, performance is low and insensitive to pressure; in the ohmic-loss-dominated regime, power density peaks at moderate pressure; in the concentration-loss-dominated regime, power density decreases monotonically with increasing pressure. All surrogate models achieved R 2 values exceeding 0.995, with fast predictions. Coupled CFD-FEA simulation yielded a maximum power density of 0.777 W & centerdot;cm-2, with a recommended range of 0.75-1.25 MPa clamping pressure and 0.60-0.65 V voltage. The artificial intelligence-genetic algorithm framework refined it to 0.8-1.2 MPa and 0.61-0.63 V, where the predicted power density consistently exceeds 0.78 W & centerdot;cm-2. These findings provide quantitative insights for the optimal assembly and operation of PEMFCs.

Improving oxygen transport at the Pt/ionomer interface is essential for enhancing the performance of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells, particularly under low Pt loading conditions. In this work, the molecular dynamics simulations were employed to elucidate the regulation mechanism of oxygen accessibility and transport resistance at the Pt/ionomer interface by tailoring carbon support surface functional groups. Three representative functional groups (-OH,-COOH, and-NH2) were introduced at varying surface densities, and their effects on oxygen permeation, ionomer distribution, and interfacial adsorption behavior were systematically analyzed. We found that the surface functional groups can significantly reduce the O2 transport resistance at the Pt/ionomer interface, with the enhancement becoming more pronounced at higher functionalization levels. In particular,-OH functionalization increases the number of O2 reaching the Pt surface by up to 199.26 %. The positive effect is attributed to "water attraction-chain traction-detoxification": reduced thickness of the interfacial water layer, decreased ionomer density near the Pt surface, and weakened sulfonate group adsorption. This study not only deepens the understanding of interfacial transport mechanisms but also highlights the critical role of carbon support surface chemistry in modulating local interface structure and transport behavior.

The Water Cooled Ceramic Breeder (WCCB) blanket is one of candidate blankets for China Fusion Engineering and Test reactor (CFETR), which is responsible for tritium breeding, neutron shielding as well as energy removing for electricity generation. The Neutron Wall Loading (NWL) is the internal source that determines the blanket design, because it dominates the nuclear heat, which is further coupled with the cooling plates layout to decide the temperature field and inversely affect the Tritium Breeding Ratio (TBR). This paper tries to establish the mathematical models which can link the important parameters of NWL, nuclear heat, temperature as well as TBR. Finally, these models are integrated and programed as topology optimization model, in which the NWL is input and the radial layout can be automatically output. Furthermore, it is applied into the WCCB blanket design, and the results show that the optimal radial thickness covering the breeder zone should be theoretically the same as 0.68 m for each module at different poloidal location. Through these coupling analyses, we can have a deeply and accurately understanding of what exactly the optimal required radial thickness should be for the blanket design, which can realize higher performance of tritium breeding and heat removal. This topology optimization model lies that the blanket radial layout and thickness are internal-defined by the NWL, rather than external-defined by other fusion system. Although there are some simplifications during mathematical modelling, it could provide suitable engineering design guideline for blanket demands, especially for the radial thickness, to the interface group of CFETR, which is useful for the integration design with other systems, such as Vacuum Vessel (VV) and Toroidal Field Coil (TFC).

The commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has garnered significant attention in recent years. Numerical modeling has emerged as a crucial tool in the design of PEMFCs for development cycle acceleration and cost reduction. Current state-of-the-art multi-physics PEMFC models predominantly rely on commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software platforms, yet several limitations in numerical implementation strategies remain systematically unaddressed. This paper first conducts a comprehensive review of multi-physics PEMFC modeling advancements, subsequently identifying five fundamental limitations inherent to conventional platforms: (a) non-physical species conservation formulation, (b) pressure-density coupling instability, (c) inefficient user-defined scalar function implementation, (d) interface conservation challenge, and (e) manual iteration bottleneck. To resolve these constraints, we develop a specialized user-defined module for multi-physics coupling within a fully self-developed CFD platform, ultimately establishing an advanced 3D multiphysics-integrated computational framework for PEMFC, that successfully addresses all identified limitations. All the numerical parameters are presented in detail. The companion paper (Part II) provides detailed validation and performance analysis of the improved platform.

Low platinum loading severely restricts the performance and durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). To overcome this, a physics-informed analysis and optimization framework is proposed to condense high-dimensional distribution spaces into interpretable parameters for efficient gradient cathode catalyst layer (CCL) designs. Drawing on regional sensitivity analyses, a dual-segment power-law profile (DSPLP) is introduced to address region-specific demands for Pt and ionomer. A three-dimensional multiphase PEMFC model with agglomerate submodel evaluates net output power and current density uniformity across DSPLP configurations. Independent and interactive DSPLP-based Pt loading and ionomer-to-carbon (I/C) ratio distributions are sequentially analyzed to identify critical parameters and influencing mechanisms, followed by multi-objective optimization for synergistic Pt-ionomer designs. Results show that compared to linear distribution, independent DSPLP-based Pt and ionomer gradients primarily mitigate ohmic and concentration losses, respectively, boosting net performance. However, both degrade current density uniformity by modulating proton availability and oxygen transport resistance, particularly steep ionomer gradients. The Pt-ionomer gradient interaction flattens the optimal Pt distribution to near-linear and lowers the mean I/C ratio from 0.70 to 0.60. Ultimately, at a Pt loading of 0.1 mg & sdot;cm-2, the optimized DSPLP CCL reduces concentration loss by 0.04 V via ionomer gradient, supplemented by Pt-driven ohmic mitigation, yielding a 5.26% increase in peak net power over uniform CCL, exceeding the 3.52% gain from linear CCL. Synergistic effects further suppress extreme local current zones, improving uniformity by 5.65% at 1.5 A & sdot;cm-2. This work provides a broadly applicable approach and valuable insights to support membrane electrode assembly design for next-generation PEMFCs.

Research on electroosmotic flow (EOF) under different surface characteristics enables precise control and prediction of its behavior. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate EOF features and interfacial structure in sinusoidally rough nanochannels, examining how roughness amplitude and wavelength affect ion distributions and velocity profiles. The results show that water molecules near the wall form layered structures, and geometric confinement makes the first density peak of water molecules in the expansion region (ER) 27% higher than that in the contraction region (CR). Variations in the electric field distribution at different locations lead to asymmetric ion distributions at the opposing surfaces. In the contraction region, enhanced ordering of interfacial water suppresses counterion adsorption, leaving the first Cl- density peak 57% of the second. Owing to changes in cross-sectional area, the contraction region exhibits an average EOF velocity about 55% higher than the expansion region, and near-wall reverse flow is observed. As the roughness amplitude decreases and the wavelength increases, Cl- shifts from the Stern layer toward the diffuse layer, which raises the Cl- drift velocity and thereby increases the volumetric flow rate. For a channel with short wavelengths, the interplay of geometric confinement and the local electric field depresses the first Cl- peak near the wall at the widest cross section, with the second about 3.4 times higher. With increasing channel flatness, the Na+-Cl- spatial correlation is weakened, leading to a more uniform Na+ distribution across the channel. These findings improve the understanding and control of EOF in practical nanochannels.

In this paper, we present a solid-type PbxLiy blanket and related R&D activities. This blanket concept is designed to enhance the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) by addressing risks identified in both current solid and liquid blanket designs. It employs PbxLiy with a high melting point as both neutron multiplier and tritium breeder, configured in the form of pebble beds within the solid blanket. This approach leverages mature tritium extraction technologies already developed for solid blankets, while eliminating the need for expensive beryllium. At this stage, a conceptual design of the blanket has been developed to verify its compliance with neutronics and thermal-hydraulics performance requirements. Additionally, initial fabrication of this material has been attempted, and preliminary characterizations, including density, chemical reactivity with water, and composition, have been conducted. The results confirm that the dominate composition is the PbxLiy alloy with high melting point. i.e. Li4Pb, Li3Pb, Li5Pb2 and Li10Pb3. However, there is still some purely lithium and PbxLiy at lower melting point 481.9 degrees C. Therefore, we need to improve the manufacturing methods to make it much more purely with high melting point, e.g. Pb28Li72 at 650 degrees C. In the following, we will find new way to make the element Pb/Li mixing much more uniformly, and cool them instantly during the mixing to make the solid-type PbxLiy more purely.

The gas distribution zone (GDZ) is a critical flow field component for enhancing the overall performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). However, conventional monolithic designs often cause problems such as uneven gas distribution, low mass transfer efficiency, and inadequate water-thermal management. To address these challenges, this study proposes a partitioned GDZ design concept for precise gas distribution control and a two-stage optimization framework based on limited data for the synergistic improvement of performance metrics. In the first stage, the GDZ was divided into primary and secondary distribution zones, and then seven configurations were evaluated using a 3D two-phase PEMFC model. A hybrid configuration was identified as the optimal case (dots in primary and ribs in secondary distribution zones). Building on this configuration, four key geometric parameters of the GDZ were further optimized in the second stage. An orthogonal array was first employed to efficiently design 16 runs of experiments, with four targets defined: net output power density (Wnet), oxygen concentration non-uniformity (UO2 ), flow velocity non-uniformity (Uflow), and membrane water content (7). The Taguchi method and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were then applied to assess parameter significance and quantify their contribution rates. Finally, grey relational analysis (GRA) delivered the optimal solution, which improved all four targets versus the first-stage baseline: a 4.328% increase in Wnet, a 0.612% increase in 7, and reductions of 6.160% in UO2 and 10.913% in Uflow. Compared to the firststage optimum, three targets were further enhanced, with the slight Wnet loss (only 1.838%) outweighed by gains in UO2 , Uflow, and 7. This study validates the novel partitioned GDZ design concept and establishes a comprehensive, transferable optimization framework for the systematic design of various PEMFC components.

The catalytic elimination of refractory methane at low temperatures is a pivotal challenge in environmental catalysis, fundamentally restricted by the formidable kinetic barrier of C-H bond scission and the sluggish turnover of reaction intermediates. To overcome these limitations, we strategically engineer robust asymmetric Pd2 + -O-Co3+ interfacial sites within Pd/Co3O4 catalyst via an in-situ Metal-Organic Framework (MOF)-templating strategy. By encapsulating Pd nanoparticles within a Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-67 (ZIF-67), a strong electronic metal-support interaction (EMSI) is established, driving a spontaneous interfacial charge redistribution (Co to Pd). In stark contrast to the impregnated Pd/Co3O4-I populated by Pd4+-O-Co2+ sites, or pristine Co3O4 limited by intrinsic Co3+-O-Co2+ redox cycles, the engineered Pd/Co3O4-E catalyst features a unique asymmetric Pd2+-O-Co3+ configuration. This specific electronic structure renders electron-enriched Pd2+ sites highly efficient for the polarization-induced C-H bond cleavage, while the adjacent lattice O within Pd2+-OCo3+ hybridization significantly improves oxygen species mobility and facilitates the activation of molecular O2. This cooperative mechanism accelerates the deep oxidation of critical formate intermediates, effectively bypassing the accumulation of poisoning carbonates observed on Pd4+-rich surfaces. Consequently, Pd/Co3O4-E delivers exceptional low-temperature activity (T90 = 296 degrees C), significantly outperforming its impregnated Pd/ Co3O4-I counterpart (T90 = 342 degrees C) and pristine Co3O4 (T90 = 465 degrees C). This work elucidates the atomic-level origin of EMSI-enhanced alkane oxidation and offers a paradigm for designing robust noble metal-oxide interfaces for pollutant abatement.