Physical modeling of two-phase flow in porous gas-evolving electrodes

ZincNyx Energy Solutions(ZES)正在开发一系列工业规模的可再生碱性锌空气燃料 用于固定电源应用的电池。展示了这种电化学能量存储的积极属性 技术包括高热力学效率、可伸缩性、运行期间高级别安全性、 易于制造，成本低。在再生循环(充电)过程中，一次电镀锌 当对电极产生氧气气体时，电极上会产生氧气。为了确保锌的高效增长， 从再生单元中排出氧气需要通过三相的高效氧气流动 系统。氧气排出不足会导致氧使电极-溶液界面失活 泡泡。蓄热式碱性锌空气材料开发和系统级工程的主要工作 因此，燃料电池专注于制氧阳极多孔电极的制造和集成。 目前电极设计的方法依赖于试错法，即建立物理原型 并观察设备级别的性能。这种开发方法既昂贵又耗时 而且，这不太可能带来最佳结果。通过这个项目，ZES正在进行系统化的设计 基于物理模型的策略。提议的Engage Plus项目的目标是制定一个详细的 了解气体在多孔电极中的形成和传输。为此，我们将加入一个 将气泡形成模型引入到现有的多孔电极模型中。集成模型将用于 预测一组优化气泡传输和最大化电化学性能的结构参数 回热器系统的性能。将制定设计建议，并对其进行测试 与ZyncNyx提供的实验数据进行对比。预计还有一个额外的好处是 从SFU到ZES在气液传输现象领域的建模专业知识。

ZincNyx Energy Solutions (ZES) is developing a range of industrial-scale regenerative alkaline zinc-air fuel cells for stationary power applications. Demonstrated positive attributes of this electrochemical energy storage technology include high thermodynamic efficiency, scalability, high level of security during operation, ease-of-manufacture, and low cost. During the regeneration cycle (charging), zinc is electroplated at one electrode while oxygen gas is generated at the counter-electrode. In order to ensure efficient zinc growth, the expulsion of oxygen from the regeneration unit requires a highly efficient oxygen flow through a three-phase system. Insufficient oxygen expulsion would lead to deactivation of the electrode-solution interface by oxygen bubbles. Major efforts in materials development and system-level engineering of regenerative alkaline zinc-air fuel cells thus focus on the fabrication and integration of porous electrodes for the oxygen evolution anode. Current approaches in electrode design rest upon a trial-and-error approach, i.e., building physical prototypes and observing performance at the device level. This development approach is expensive and time consuming and it is unlikely to lead to optimal outcomes. Through this project, ZES is pursuing a systematic design strategy based on physical modeling. The aim of the proposed Engage Plus project is to develop a detailed understanding of gas formation and transport in porous electrodes. For this purpose, we will incorporate a model of bubble formation into the existing porous electrode model. The integrated model will be used to predict the set of structural parameters that optimizes bubble transport and maximizes the electrochemical performance of the regenerator system. Design recommendations will be developed, which will be tested against experimental data provided by ZyncNyx. An additional benefit is expected to be the transfer of modelling expertise from SFU to ZES in the field of gas-liquid transport phenomena.