Elucidating Performance Limitations in Alkaline-Exchange- Membrane Fuel Cells
Abstract
Water management is a serious concern for alkaline-exchange-membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) because water is a reactant in the alkaline oxygen-reduction reaction and hydroxide conduction in alkaline-exchange membranes is highly hydration dependent. Here in this article, we develop and use a multiphysics, multiphase model to explore water management in AEMFCs. We demonstrate that the low performance is mostly caused by extremely non-uniform distribution of water in the ionomer phase. A sensitivity analysis of design parameters including humidification strategies, membrane properties, and water transport resistance was undertaken to explore possible optimization strategies. Furthermore, the strategy and issues of reducing bicarbonate/carbonate buildup in the membrane-electrode assembly with CO2 from air is demonstrated based on the model prediction. Overall, mathematical modeling is used to explore trends and strategies to overcome performance bottlenecks and help enable AEMFC commercialization.
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Conversion Group, Energy Technology Area
- Tufts Univ., Medford, MA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1420105
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the Electrochemical Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 164; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-4651
- Publisher:
- The Electrochemical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 25 ENERGY STORAGE; AEMFC; Alkaline; carbon dioxide; Fuel Cell; hydroxide; Modeling water management
Citation Formats
Shiau, Huai-Suen, Zenyuk, Iryna V., and Weber, Adam Z. Elucidating Performance Limitations in Alkaline-Exchange- Membrane Fuel Cells. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1149/2.0531711jes.
Shiau, Huai-Suen, Zenyuk, Iryna V., & Weber, Adam Z. Elucidating Performance Limitations in Alkaline-Exchange- Membrane Fuel Cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0531711jes
Shiau, Huai-Suen, Zenyuk, Iryna V., and Weber, Adam Z. Sat .
"Elucidating Performance Limitations in Alkaline-Exchange- Membrane Fuel Cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0531711jes. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1420105.
@article{osti_1420105,
title = {Elucidating Performance Limitations in Alkaline-Exchange- Membrane Fuel Cells},
author = {Shiau, Huai-Suen and Zenyuk, Iryna V. and Weber, Adam Z.},
abstractNote = {Water management is a serious concern for alkaline-exchange-membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) because water is a reactant in the alkaline oxygen-reduction reaction and hydroxide conduction in alkaline-exchange membranes is highly hydration dependent. Here in this article, we develop and use a multiphysics, multiphase model to explore water management in AEMFCs. We demonstrate that the low performance is mostly caused by extremely non-uniform distribution of water in the ionomer phase. A sensitivity analysis of design parameters including humidification strategies, membrane properties, and water transport resistance was undertaken to explore possible optimization strategies. Furthermore, the strategy and issues of reducing bicarbonate/carbonate buildup in the membrane-electrode assembly with CO2 from air is demonstrated based on the model prediction. Overall, mathematical modeling is used to explore trends and strategies to overcome performance bottlenecks and help enable AEMFC commercialization.},
doi = {10.1149/2.0531711jes},
journal = {Journal of the Electrochemical Society},
number = 11,
volume = 164,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Sat Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Web of Science
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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