A review of recent progress on the use of natural/synthetic and cellulosic advanced materials towards modeling and optimization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Over the past few decades, there was a remarkable attempt to broaden the technical application of natural/synthetic and cellulosic fiber-based polymer composites for modern use. These materials have received tremendous interest from engineers, manufacturers, and scientists to provide promising solutions to sophisticated engineering challenges and become the central subjects for environmentalists, researchers, and governments for great potential in various applications. The dynamic characteristics of manufactured fuel cells offer an excellent fortune in manufacturing multipurpose engineering materials for high-end use. Most researchers revolve around optimizing the properties of manufactured fuel cells, which are investigated. This work contributes to knowledge by critically highlighting the use of natural/synthetic and cellulosic materials in different applications and their recent progress in predicting their dynamic modifications for optimizing PEMFCs. The aspects of various designs, manufacturing processes, modeling, and optimization techniques employed for fuel cells are also critically reviewed. At the end, future challenges and trends in using advanced materials in fuel cell technology are illustrated. It can be argued that fuel cells made of cellulose are promising candidates for improved performance.