TY - JOUR
T1 - What Happens Inside a Fuel Cell? Developing an Experimental Functional Map of Fuel Cell Performance
AU - Brett, Daniel J. L.
AU - Kucernak, Anthony R.
AU - Aguiar, Patricia
AU - Atkins, Stephen C.
AU - Brandon, Nigel P.
AU - Clague, Ralph
AU - Cohen, Lesley F.
AU - Hinds, Gareth
AU - Kalyvas, Christos
AU - Offer, Gregory J.
AU - Ladewig, Bradley
AU - Maher, Robert
AU - Marquis, Andrew
AU - Shearing, Paul
AU - Vasileiadis, Nikos
AU - Vesovic, Velisa
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the EPSRC for funding the work on current mapping through grant: GR/M 73552 and through grant EP/G060991/1 along with the NPL for support of Dr. Kalyvas. The EPSRC Supergen Fuel Cell programme (Phase 1) is acknowledged for funding the thermal imaging research and Phase 2 for the electrode microstructure mapping work. We thank Johnson Matthey for supplying bespoke MEAs and to Intelligent Energy for their support of our current work. Dr. Ladewig acknowledges financial support from the British Council and Dr. wMaher for support from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for supporting the Raman spectroscopy research. We acknowledge Mr. S. Turner for technical assistance in the design and construction of the current mapping fuel cell hardware and Mr. R. Rudkin for his unparalleled practical knowledge of SOFCs.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.
PY - 2010/8/20
Y1 - 2010/8/20
N2 - Fuel cell performance is determined by the complex interplay of mass transport, energy transfer and electrochemical processes. The convolution of these processes leads to spatial heterogeneity in the way that fuel cells perform, particularly due to reactant consumption, water management and the design of fluid-flow plates. It is therefore unlikely that any bulk measurement made on a fuel cell will accurately represent performance at all parts of the cell. The ability to make spatially resolved measurements in a fuel cell provides one of the most useful ways in which to monitor and optimise performance. This Minireview explores a range of in situ techniques being used to study fuel cells and describes the use of novel experimental techniques that the authors have used to develop an 'experimental functional map' of fuel cell performance. These techniques include the mapping of current density, electrochemical impedance, electrolyte conductivity, contact resistance and CO poisoning distribution within working PEFCs, as well as mapping the flow of reactant in gas channels using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). For the high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), temperature mapping, reference electrode placement and the use of Raman spectroscopy are described along with methods to map the microstructural features of electrodes. The combination of these techniques, applied across a range of fuel cell operating conditions, allows a unique picture of the internal workings of fuel cells to be obtained and have been used to validate both numerical and analytical models. © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH& Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
AB - Fuel cell performance is determined by the complex interplay of mass transport, energy transfer and electrochemical processes. The convolution of these processes leads to spatial heterogeneity in the way that fuel cells perform, particularly due to reactant consumption, water management and the design of fluid-flow plates. It is therefore unlikely that any bulk measurement made on a fuel cell will accurately represent performance at all parts of the cell. The ability to make spatially resolved measurements in a fuel cell provides one of the most useful ways in which to monitor and optimise performance. This Minireview explores a range of in situ techniques being used to study fuel cells and describes the use of novel experimental techniques that the authors have used to develop an 'experimental functional map' of fuel cell performance. These techniques include the mapping of current density, electrochemical impedance, electrolyte conductivity, contact resistance and CO poisoning distribution within working PEFCs, as well as mapping the flow of reactant in gas channels using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). For the high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), temperature mapping, reference electrode placement and the use of Raman spectroscopy are described along with methods to map the microstructural features of electrodes. The combination of these techniques, applied across a range of fuel cell operating conditions, allows a unique picture of the internal workings of fuel cells to be obtained and have been used to validate both numerical and analytical models. © 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH& Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/600193
UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/cphc.201000487
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77956824704&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cphc.201000487
DO - 10.1002/cphc.201000487
M3 - Article
C2 - 20730848
SN - 1439-4235
VL - 11
SP - 2714
EP - 2731
JO - ChemPhysChem
JF - ChemPhysChem
IS - 13
ER -