Kregar , A.; Zelič , K.; Kravos , A.; Katrašnik , T. Educational Scale-Bridging Approach towards Modelling of Electric Potential, Electrochemical Reactions, and Species Transport in PEM Fuel Cell. Catalysts2023, 13, 1131.
Kregar , A.; Zelič , K.; Kravos , A.; Katrašnik , T. Educational Scale-Bridging Approach towards Modelling of Electric Potential, Electrochemical Reactions, and Species Transport in PEM Fuel Cell. Catalysts 2023, 13, 1131.
Kregar , A.; Zelič , K.; Kravos , A.; Katrašnik , T. Educational Scale-Bridging Approach towards Modelling of Electric Potential, Electrochemical Reactions, and Species Transport in PEM Fuel Cell. Catalysts2023, 13, 1131.
Kregar , A.; Zelič , K.; Kravos , A.; Katrašnik , T. Educational Scale-Bridging Approach towards Modelling of Electric Potential, Electrochemical Reactions, and Species Transport in PEM Fuel Cell. Catalysts 2023, 13, 1131.
Abstract
The use of hydrogen fuel cells as a mobile source of electricity might prove to be a keystone in future decarbonization of heavy duty road and marine transport. Due to complex interplay of various physicochemical processes in the fuel cells, further development of these devices will rely on concerted effort of researchers from various fields, e.g. chemistry, physics, electric and mechanical engineering. This results in knowledge gaps which are filled by the information, dispersed in wide range of literature, but rarely covered in a short and condensed form. To address this issue and with the aim of providing a concise and simple explanation of fuel cell operation, we propose a simple educational model of the most relevant processes in the fuel cell, aimed at proper description of causal relations. The derivation of model equations provides an intuitive understanding of electric potentials acting on protons on the microscopic level and relates this knowledge to the common terminology in fuel cell research community, such as catalyst electric overpotential and internal membrane resistance. The results of the model fit well with experimental data, indicating that a simple description, provided in the paper, is sufficient for intuitive understanding of fuel cell operation.
Keywords
Fuel Cell; PEMFC; Modelling
Subject
Physical Sciences, Chemical Physics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
