Liquid Water Transport in Porous Electrodes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Abstract Proposal No: 9803364 Proposal Type: Investigator Initiated Principal Investigator: Trung V. Nguyen Affiliation: University of Kansas This grant is awarded through the Separations and Purification Program sub-element of the Interfacial, Transport and Separations Program of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division. The principal investigator is Dr. Trung Nguyen at the University of Kansas. The research will attempt to improve the performance of fuel cells. The technology is based on increasing the efficiency of water management through an interdigitated flow field design of the electrodes. A model will be developed to describe two-phase flow through a porous electrode. The model will be used along with a voltage stepping scheme to study the effects of liquid water distributions on the electrodes. Results from the work will help determine optimal operating conditions and design parameters for the interdigitated flow field. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system is being seriously considered as a power source for electric vehicles, portable electrical devices and remote power generation because of its non-polluting characteristics, theoretical efficiency, and simplicity in design and operation. For the PEM system to be cost effective however, its performance and efficiency in practice need to be further improved. This research will address a significant aspect of improving the performance of PEM fuel cells.