Polymer electrolyte fuel cells design

Watanabe M, Igarashi H, Fujino T. 1999. Design of CO tolerant anode catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cell. Electrochemistry 67 1194-1196. 

The second contribution spans an even larger range of length and times scales. Two benchmark examples illustrate the design approach polymer electrolyte fuel cells and hard disk drive (HDD) systems. In the current HDDs, the read/write head flies about 6.5 nm above the surface via the air bearing design. Multi-scale modeling tools include quantum mechanical (i.e., density functional theory (DFT)), atomistic (i.e., Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MD)), mesoscopic (i.e., dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and lattice Boltzmann method (LBM)), and macroscopic (i.e., LBM, computational fluid mechanics, and system optimization) levels. 

Figure 6.42. Picture of the anode configuration for the fourth-generation segmented cell designed by LANL [43], (Reprinted from Journal of Power Sources, 123(2), Bender G, Wilson MS, Zawodzinski TA. Further refinements in the segmented cell approach to diagnosing performance in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, 163-71, 2003, with permission from Elsevier and the authors.)...

Instrumentation. The interface within a suitably constructed electrochemical cell to be investigated is placed in the sample position of a standard DRIFT accessory for an infrared spectrometer for a typical design, see [328,329]. Examples reported so far deal with solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells where the surface of the anode layer exposed to a mixed gas atmosphere containing both water and methanol is separated from the environment via a Cap2 window [331, 332]. Various oxidized species and penetrating methanol were observed. 

The basic design of a fuel cell, an ionically conducting electrolyte and separator layer sandwiched between two electronically conducting gas diffusion electrodes (the fuel anode and the oxidant cathode, respectively), is shown schematically in Fig. 2 for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell with an acidic electrolyte and hydrogen and oxygen as the corresponding reactants. Typically, under open circuit conditions, H2/air fuel cells exhibit a cell voltage of... 

The Nafion membrane, for instance, has shown good performance in fuel cells but has certain limitations, i.e., it has poor ionic conductivity at low humidity and is available at an expensive rate of 500 /m. The costs for Nafion , for example, become attractive only at high production voliunes [3]. Consequently, the search for new membrane materials with low cost and the required electrochemical characteristics, along with performances matching those of Nafion , is continuing and has become the most focused research area in the design of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. 

The aforementioned polymeric electrolytes have been effectively used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells operating up to In order to study the single cell performance and apart from the high ionic conductivity of the membrane, several parameters residing the MEA constmction must be taken into account in order to have optimum performance of the cell. Some of these parameters are the amount of the catalyst the ionomer-binder used at the electrodes and its percentage, electrode surface and the preparation method, pressure and the temperature of the MEA assembling and design and constmction parameters of the cell. ... 

Matsumoto K, Fujigaya T, Sasaki K, Nakashima N (2011) Bottom-up design of carbon nanotube-based electrocatalysts and their application in high temperature operating polymer electrolyte fuel cells. J Mater Chem 21(4) 1187-1190... 

Freunberger SA, Reum M, Biichi FN (2009) Design approaches for determining local current and membrane resistance in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). In Vielstich W, Gasteiger HA, Yokokawa H (eds) Handbook of fuel cells - advances in electrocatalysis, materials, diagnostics, and durability, vol 5. Wiley, Chichester, pp 603-615... 

Gubler, L., G.G. Scherer, and A. Wokaun. 2001. Effects of cell and electrode design on the CO tolerance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. P/n/s. Chem. Chem. Phys. 3 325-329. 

Samsun RC, Pasel J, JanBen H et al (2014) Design and test of a 5kWe high-temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cell system operated with diesel and kerosene. Appl Energy 114 238-249... 

In the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFQ, whieh will be useful power source for automotive and on-site power generation, water management is essential because a thin polymer membrane used as an eleetrolyte in the eell shows high ionic conductivity only in hydration. A fuel eell was specially designed for MRI experiment and the hydration process of the membrane in the fuel cell was examined by time-lapse MRI to determine the water transfer coefficient. ... 

This chapter gives an overview of basic concepts in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The intent is to provide the reader with an intuitive understanding of the processes that underlie fuel cell operation. General and engineering aspects of fuel cell design and operation are treated in greater detail in recently published books (Bagotsky, 2012 Barbir, 2012). Please refer to these books for further discussions of different types of fuel cells and specific aspects of their operation. 

The history of research on polymer electrolyte fuel cells spans about 50 years. PEFCs appeared in the focus of scientific interest toward the end of the 1980s. Generally, PEFC design is simple and all the needed components are available on the market. Take two gas-diffusion electrodes separated by a polymer electrolyte membrane and clamp this membrane-electrode assembly between two graphite plates with channels for hydrogen and air supply—the cell is ready. 

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