Effect of reacting gas flowrates and hydration on the carbonation of anion exchange membrane fuel cells in the presence of CO2

Zheng, Yiwei, Guang, Garrett, Wang, Lianqin, Varcoe, John, Kohl, Paul A. and Mustain, W.E (2020) Effect of reacting gas flowrates and hydration on the carbonation of anion exchange membrane fuel cells in the presence of CO2 Journal of Power Sources, 467, 228350.

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Abstract

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) have been widely touted as a low-cost alternative to existing proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, one of the limitations of this technology has been the severe performance penalty related to the introduction of CO2 to the cell – typically in the air cathode feed. Introduction of CO2 into AEMFCs results in cell carbonation, which imparts thermodynamic, kinetic and Ohmic overpotentials that can add up to hundreds of millivolts. Therefore, it is important to find strategies and operational protocols for AEMFCs that minimize these overpotentials. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of the anode and cathode flowrate, as well as the cell hydration level, on the extent of cell carbonation and cell polarization. Key findings include: (1) decreasing the cathode flowrate generally decreases the total CO2-related voltage loss while changing the anode flowrate has a minimal effect; (2) increasing cell hydration helps to mitigate the performance loss in the presence of CO2; and (3) operational combinations are found that significantly reduce the CO2 penalty compared to the present literature.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions :	Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences > Chemistry
Authors :	Name Email ORCID Zheng, Yiwei Guang, Garrett Wang, Lianqin Varcoe, John J.Varcoe@surrey.ac.uk Kohl, Paul A. Mustain, W.E
Date :	26 May 2020
Funders :	EPSRC
DOI :	10.1016/j.jpowsour.2020.228350
Grant Title :	EPSRC Grant
Copyright Disclaimer :	© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Depositing User :	James Marshall
Date Deposited :	11 Jun 2020 14:11
Last Modified :	11 Jun 2020 14:17
URI:	http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/id/eprint/857780

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