Thermal and electrochemical analysis of different flow field patterns in a PEM electrolyzer

Toghyani, Somayeh; Afshari, Ebrahim; Baniasadi, Ehsan; Atyabi, Seyed Ali

doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2018.02.078

Cited by 126 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The serpentine channels extend the path length for the reactants, increasing the substrate-catalyst contact area to favor higher CO 2 utilization rates. [63] After centering the silicone gasket on the respective slot in the endplate, the Ir-coated carbon paper was placed on the flow channels, being surrounded by the gasket. The anode chamber was completed by putting the Selemion membrane on top of the carbon paper and gasket.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Kistler

Cooper

et al. 2021

Advanced Energy Materials

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remain intractable as atmospheric CO 2 concentrations continue to rise.An appreciation for this reality has motivated the development of carbonneutral/negative processes, such as CO 2 -derived fuels/materials production, capable of displacing their carbon-positive counterparts across all economic sectors. CO 2 reduction reactions generally enable a wide range of mixed products, [4] mostly depending on the catalyst, its surface structure, and the electrolyte, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] often requiring downstream separation. However, carbon monoxide (CO) and its mixture with hydrogen (H 2 ), called synthesis gas (syngas), may be obtained at a selectivity higher than 90%. [15] Syngas is an important precursor in the chemical industry for the production of alcohols, [16] acetic acid, [17] and synthetic hydrocarbon fuels [18,19] but is typically produced from fossil fuels. Alternatively, CO 2 reduction may be driven by electricity from renewable sources, such as solar cells, significantly lowering its carbon footprint. [20][21][22] In solar-driven CO 2 electrolysis (artificial photosynthesis), [23] the solar-to-fuel (STF) efficiency marks a critical figure-of-merit, describing the efficiency with which incident solar energy is incorporated into the chemical bonds of a particular fuel or fuel mixture. Recently, STF efficiencies of 19% at 1 sun illumination intensity have been achieved in devices featuring physically separated photovoltaic (PV) and electrolyzer components. [24][25][26][27][28][29] However, the state of monolithic, photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices has lagged behind the performance of PV-electrolyzers, with monolithic architectures to date displaying peak STF efficiencies of 4.6% for solar CO 2 conversion. [30][31][32] Monolithic designs do not require any wiring between PV and electrocatalytic components during unbiased, PEC operation. [33] The challenge of constructing robust, monolithic PEC devices is compounded by the requisite integration of the PV in the electrolysis compartment, limiting the choice of photoabsorber materials to those resistant to corrosion by the alkaline electrolytes generally employed in CO 2 electrolyzers. [34] Despite such constraints, PEC monoliths may benefit from a more compact device design, enabling lower charge transport losses, and favorable heat-exchange between the PV and the electrolyzer, [33] especially under light concentration. [35] This work describes a monolithic PEC device that converts CO 2 to syngas at a record STF efficiency above 10% (combined solar-to-CO and solar-to-H 2 efficiency). This benchmark represents a doubling in the reported peak efficiency for such Increasing anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions have prompted the search for photoelectrochemical (PEC) methods of converting CO 2 to useful commodity products, including fuels. Ideally, such PEC approaches will be sustained using only sunlight, water, and CO 2 as energetic and reactant inputs. However, low peak conversion efficiencies (<5%) have made commercialization of fully-integrated...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Kistler

Cooper

et al. 2021

Advanced Energy Materials

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“…The water flow rate levels were chosen based on the range used in previous studies (Ito et al, 2010;Majasan et al, 2018). Two of the most common, yet disparate, flowfield designs (parallel and serpentine designs) (Ito et al, 2010;Majasan et al, 2018;Toghyani et al, 2018) were selected to show the effect of flow-field configuration. The range of anode PTL was selected based on various mean pore diameter that has been explored in the literature and previous studies by the authors (Grigoriev et al, 2009;Majasan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Design-of-experiments Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effectiveness of mass transport in the PEMWE depends on several factors including the anode water flow rate, the flow-field design, porous transport layer (PTL) design, etc. The individual influence of these various geometric properties and operational factors has been investigated and reported to be of critical importance in determining PEMWE performance (Ito et al, 2010;Selamet et al, 2013;Suermann et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018;Toghyani et al, 2018;Maier et al, 2019). However, mass transport in the PEMWE is a complex, multi-component and multiphase phenomenon, which requires a systemic understanding of the interaction of various factors, rather than their stand-alone effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimisation of Mass Transport Parameters in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyser Using Factorial Design-of-Experiment

et al. 2021

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Optimised mass transport is crucial for high current density operations in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysers (PEMWEs). This study investigates the effect and interactions of mass transport parameters on the performance of a PEMWE using a 23 full-factorial Design-of-Experiments (DoE) approach with replication. The effects of anode flow-field design, anode porous transport layer (PTL) and water flow rate on the cell performance were studied. At 95% confidence level, the result shows that all three factors and their two-way interactions significantly affect the cell performance. Among them, the water flow rate showed the most significant contribution, followed by the interaction between the flow-field and the PTL. A regression model was developed to relate the cell performance and the mass transfer parameters. Results of analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression analysis and R2 test indicated good accuracy of the model. The best PEMWE cell performance was obtained with a parallel flow-field configuration, a small average pore diameter of PTL and high anode water flow rate. The DoE is shown to be a suitable method for investigating interactions and optimising the operating conditions to maximise PEMWE performance.

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“…S m is the mass sink/source term, and it is considered zero since no reaction occurs in the flow channels and GDLs. However, because of the reactivity of reactant species, the sink/source term is not zero in the catalyst layer and can be evaluated using the following equations [58]:…”

Section: Continuity Equationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Optimization and Multiphase Analysis of Polygon PEM Fuel Cells

Jabbary¹,

Pourmahmoud²,

Abdollahi³

2022

Preprint

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This article presents new PEM fuel cell models with hexagonal and pentagonal designs. After observing cell performance improvement in these models, we optimized them. Inlet pressure and temperature were used as input parameters and consumption and output power as target parameters of the multi-objective optimization algorithm. Then we used artificial intelligence techniques, including deep neural networks and polynomial regression, to model the data. Next, we employed the RSM (Response Surface Method) method to derive the target functions. Furthermore, we applied the NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm to optimize the targets. The optimized Pentagonal and Hexagonal models averagely increase the output current density by 21.819% and 39.931%, respectively, compared to the base model (Cubic).

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Thermal and electrochemical analysis of different flow field patterns in a PEM electrolyzer

Cited by 126 publications

References 35 publications

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Optimisation of Mass Transport Parameters in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyser Using Factorial Design-of-Experiment

Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Optimization and Multiphase Analysis of Polygon PEM Fuel Cells

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Thermal and electrochemical analysis of different flow field patterns in a PEM electrolyzer

Cited by 126 publications

References 35 publications

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO2 Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO2 Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Optimisation of Mass Transport Parameters in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyser Using Factorial Design-of-Experiment

Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Optimization and Multiphase Analysis of Polygon PEM Fuel Cells

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Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency

Monolithic Photoelectrochemical CO₂ Reduction Producing Syngas at 10% Efficiency