TY - JOUR
T1 - A computational model of a liquid e-fuel cell
AU - Esan, Oladapo Christopher
AU - Shi, Xingyi
AU - Su, Xiangyu
AU - Dai, Yichen
AU - An, Liang
AU - Zhao, T. S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region , China (Project No. T23-601/17-R ).
Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. T23-601/17-R).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/7/31
Y1 - 2021/7/31
N2 - A new energy storage system that utilizes electrically rechargeable liquid fuels (e-fuels) obtainable from diverse electroactive materials has been recently proposed. The system is composed of an e-fuel charger to charge e-fuels and an e-fuel cell to generate electricity for end use. Here, we develop a model for a liquid e-fuel cell by incorporating fluid flow and mass/charge transport processes coupled with electrochemical reactions of the involved electroactive species. The mathematical model is validated against the experimental data in the open literature. The model allows to study the effects of various operation variables, including e-fuel concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, e-fuel flow rates, as well as structural design parameters, including the anode porosity and thickness, the membrane and cathode catalyst layer thickness, on the cell performance. The simulation results reveal that the cell performance improves with increasing e-fuel concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, and e-fuel flow rate. As for the aforementioned structural design parameters, the cell performance increases with increasing these parameters except the membrane thickness where performance degradation is found. This study therefore provides insights into the performance-enhancing and performance-limiting parameters, as well as the design optimization of the liquid e-fuel cell.
AB - A new energy storage system that utilizes electrically rechargeable liquid fuels (e-fuels) obtainable from diverse electroactive materials has been recently proposed. The system is composed of an e-fuel charger to charge e-fuels and an e-fuel cell to generate electricity for end use. Here, we develop a model for a liquid e-fuel cell by incorporating fluid flow and mass/charge transport processes coupled with electrochemical reactions of the involved electroactive species. The mathematical model is validated against the experimental data in the open literature. The model allows to study the effects of various operation variables, including e-fuel concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, e-fuel flow rates, as well as structural design parameters, including the anode porosity and thickness, the membrane and cathode catalyst layer thickness, on the cell performance. The simulation results reveal that the cell performance improves with increasing e-fuel concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, and e-fuel flow rate. As for the aforementioned structural design parameters, the cell performance increases with increasing these parameters except the membrane thickness where performance degradation is found. This study therefore provides insights into the performance-enhancing and performance-limiting parameters, as well as the design optimization of the liquid e-fuel cell.
KW - Cell performance
KW - Computational modeling
KW - E-fuel
KW - Fuel cells
KW - Liquid e-fuel cells
KW - Mass transport
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106234960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230023
DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230023
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85106234960
SN - 0378-7753
VL - 501
JO - Journal of Power Sources
JF - Journal of Power Sources
M1 - 230023
ER -
