Effect of Liquid Barrier Layer on Open-Cathode Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Systems

Comprehensive mass transport modeling technique for the cathode side of an open-cathode direct methanol fuel cell

“…Consistent with prior work carried out in our laboratory facilities [41,54,55], the independently manipulated operating variables are the following: the methanol feed concentration at the anode fuel inlet, the anode fuel flow rate, the operating temperature, and the load current density. These experimental factors are adjusted as shown in Table 4.…”

“…8(c) shows the variation of the oxygen concentration in the cathode catalyst layer with cell current density for different ε LDL values. The effect of porosity on the oxygen concentration is incorporated in Equation (9), where the oxygen mass transport coefficient k LDL O2 depends on ε LDL through Equations (49)e (55). The figure indicates that the oxygen-starvation current density increases with the porosity of the LDL.…”

“…The air flow rate in the cathode flow channels is adjusted using a controller to maintain the operating cell temperature at a specified set point. Further details of the setup are given in the literature [41,54,55].…”