A Continuum Model for Water Transport in the Ionomer-Phase of Catalyst Coated Membranes for PEMFCs

Gurau, Vladimir; Mann, J. Adin

doi:10.1155/2010/372795

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Unlike low-temperature perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA)-based membranes such as Nafion ® , PA-doped PBI membranes do not need to be rehydrated during operation to improve their proton conductivity, therefore the hydrogen and air entering the domain are considered dry gasses. Water in the cathode flow-field is considered at equilibrium with the PA aqueous solution in the membrane, and since the electro-osmotic drag coefficient of water in PA-PBI membranes is nearly zero [6], sorption/desorption of water and electro-osmotic discharge of water [20][21][22][23][24][25] are neglected in the model. be as vapor, therefore the model is single-phase.…”

Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of Performance Variation Caused by Manufacturing Tolerances and Defects in Gas Diffusion Electrodes of Phosphoric Acid (PA)–Doped Polybenzimidazole (PBI)-Based High-Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Gurau

Castro

2020

Energies

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The automated process of coating catalyst layers on gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells results inherently into a number of defects. These defects consist of agglomerates in which the platinum sites cannot be accessed by phosphoric acid and which are the consequence of an inconsistent coating, uncoated regions, scratches, knots, blemishes, folds, or attached fine particles—all ranging from μm to mm size. These electrochemically inactive spots cause a reduction of the effective catalyst area per unit volume (cm2/cm3) and determine a drop in fuel cell performance. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is presented that predicts performance variation caused by manufacturing tolerances and defects of the GDE and which enables the creation of a six-sigma product specification for Advent phosphoric acid (PA)-doped polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). The model was used to predict the total volume of defects that would cause a 10% drop in performance. It was found that a 10% performance drop at the nominal operating regime would be caused by uniformly distributed defects totaling 39% of the catalyst layer volume (~0.5 defects/μm2). The study provides an upper bound for the estimation of the impact of the defect location on performance drop. It was found that the impact on the local current density is higher when the defect is located closer to the interface with the membrane. The local current density decays less than 2% in the presence of an isolated defect, regardless of its location along the active area of the catalyst layer.

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Section: Mathematical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of Performance Variation Caused by Manufacturing Tolerances and Defects in Gas Diffusion Electrodes of Phosphoric Acid (PA)–Doped Polybenzimidazole (PBI)-Based High-Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Gurau

Castro

2020

Energies

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“…Fell cell technology is a significant component in this special issue. Topics include the experimental and numerical study of cold startup of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell [2], which is one of most promising solutions for the next generation of purely electric automobiles, development of a continuum model for water transport in the Ionomer-phase of catalyst-coated membranes for PEM [3], and mesoscopic modeling based on the lattice Boltzmann method for water management in fell cells [4]. Emission control is attracting more attention and is also addressed in this special issue.…”

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confidence: 99%

Micro/Nanotransport Phenomena in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Peterson

Wang

et al. 2010

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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As a result of serious concerns about climate change, high oil prices, and peak oil, energy has become one of the most important issues of our time. Renewable energy and energy-saving technologies are potentially crucial parts of the ultimate solutions to both energy sustainability and climate change. The set of papers in this special issue of "Micro/nanotransport phenomena in renewable energy and energy efficiency" address some of the basic aspects of renewable energy harvest/conversion, emission control, and optimization of energy issues of today.Contained herein, Vorobyev and Guo [1] develop a new method based on Femtosecond laser to fabricate highquality metallic light absorbers. This method significantly enhances broadband absorption of electromagnetic radiation by creating a complex of nano-and microstructures. These artificially made surfaces can be used to improve the energy conversion efficiency such as thermophotovoltaics and solar energy absorbers. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies emerged as one of the most favorable solutions to diversity energy resources and to energy sustainability and environment. Fell cell technology is a significant component in this special issue. Topics include the experimental and numerical study of cold startup of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell [2], which is one of most promising solutions for the next generation of purely electric automobiles, development of a continuum model for water transport in the Ionomer-phase of catalyst-coated membranes for PEM [3], and mesoscopic modeling based on the lattice Boltzmann method for water management in fell cells [4]. Emission control is attracting more attention and is also addressed in this special issue. Nanosized cerium oxide particles as additives on biodiesel were found to appreciably reduce the emission levels of hydrocarbon and NO x through enhancing hydrocarbon oxidation and promoting complete combustion [5]. Mesoscopic modeling of multiphysicochemical transport phenomena in porous media based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been found to be especially effective to model the dissolving process of supercritical CO 2 into geologic formations such as limestone rock [4], which may provide a comprehensive numerical tool to simulate the long-term fate of CO 2 after injection into the geologic formations. Thermal management is important to concentrated solar technology. Flatplate oscillating heat pipes are shown to be capable of cooling photovoltaic cells with high concentration ratios because of their superior performance under high-heat flux conditions [6]. Nanoparticles can be used to improve the convective heat transfer at high Reynolds number [7]. The optimization of energy in the end use is included in this special issue since it is important to energy sustainability and the environment. The "field synergy principle" proposed by Guo (see [8][9][10][11]) is illustrated to be an effective tool to optimize the energy and mass flow in energy system [12].

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