In-operando optical observations of alkaline fuel cell electrode surfaces during harsh cycling tests

Dawson, Richard and Patel, Anant and Alako, Kolade and Parhar, Samritha and Hinde, Christopher and Reynolds, Christopher (2017) In-operando optical observations of alkaline fuel cell electrode surfaces during harsh cycling tests. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42 (33). pp. 21203-21214. ISSN 0360-3199

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Abstract

The durability of low-cost fuel cells is one of the last technical challenges to be overcome before the widespread adoption of fuel cells can become a reality. Most research concentrates on polymer electrolyte membrane or solid oxide fuel cells in this topic with little published regarding the durability of recirculating liquid electrolyte alkaline fuel cells. In this paper we present an investigation into the durability of this fuel cell variant under harsh load cycling, air starvation and fuel starvation conditions. In the study, making use of the high ionic conductivity of the electrolyte, a novel rig design was utilised, which allowed the surfaces of the electrodes to be constantly monitored optically during the experiments. This demonstrated the good physical durability of the anode during the test protocols whilst highlighted the instability of the manganese-cobalt spinel cathode, used in this study, during the air starvation protocols. The load cycling stability of the alkaline fuel cells used was found to be good with the standard configuration giving only around a 2.7% voltage degradation at 100 mA cm−2 operating point over 8000 load cycles.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Additional Information:
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42, (33), 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.07.018
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2100/2102
Subjects:
?? alkalinefuel celldurabilityin-operandocyclingdegradationenergy engineering and power technologycondensed matter physicsfuel technologyrenewable energy, sustainability and the environment ??
ID Code:
87136
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
07 Aug 2017 09:22
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
17 Mar 2024 00:38