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Method to improve catalyst layer model for modelling proton exchange membrane fuel cell
journal contribution
posted on 2015-06-19, 13:48 authored by Xiaoxian Zhang, Yuan Gao, Hossein Ostadi, Kyle Jiang, Rui ChenCorrectly describing oxygen reduction within the cathode catalyst layer (CL) in modelling proton exchange membrane fuel cell is an important issue remaining unresolved. In this paper we show how to derive an agglomerate model for calculating oxygen reactions by describing dissolved oxygen in the agglomerates using two independent random processes. The first one is the probability that an oxygen molecule, which dissolves in the ionomer film on the agglomerate surface, moves into and then remains in the agglomerates; the second one is the probability of the molecule being consumed in reactions. The first probability depends on CL structure and can be directly calculated; the second one is derived by assuming that the oxygen reduction is first-order kinetic. It is found that the distribution functions of the first process can be fitted to a generalised gamma distribution function, which enables us to derive an analytical agglomerate model. We also expend the model to include oxygen dissolution in the ionomer film, and apply it to simulate cathode electrodes. The results reveal that the resistance to oxygen diffusion in ionomer film and agglomerate in modern CL is minor, and that the main potential loss is due to oxygen dissolution in the ionomer film.
Funding
Part of this research was supported by the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB Project No. TP/6/S/K3032H).
History
School
- Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
- Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering
Published in
Journal of Power SourcesVolume
289Pages
114 - 128Citation
ZHANG, X., et al. 2015. Method to improve catalyst layer model for modelling proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Journal of Power Sources, 289, pp. 114 - 128Publisher
© ElsevierVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2015Notes
This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Journal of Power Sources and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.04.152ISSN
0378-7753Publisher version
Other identifier
S0378775315008204Language
- en