Elucidating Performance Limitations in Alkaline-Exchange-Membrane Fuel Cells

作者:Shiau Huai Suen; Zenyuk Iryna V; Weber Adam Z*
来源:Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2017, 164(11): E3583-E3591.
DOI:10.1149/2.0531711jes

摘要

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. In this paper, 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.

  • 出版日期2017