Communication—Modeling Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel-Cell Agglomerates with Double-Trap Kinetics

Publication Type

Journal Article

Date Published

04/2017

Authors

Lalit M. Pant, Adam Z. Weber

DOI

Abstract

A new semi-analytical agglomerate model is presented for polymer-electrolyte fuel-cell cathodes. The model uses double-trap kinetics for the oxygen-reduction reaction, which can capture the observed potential-dependent coverage and Tafel-slope changes. An iterative semi-analytical approach is used to obtain reaction rate constants from the double-trap kinetics, oxygen concentration at the agglomerate surface, and overall agglomerate reaction rate. The analytical method can predict reaction rates within 2% of the numerically simulated values for a wide range of oxygen concentrations, overpotentials, and agglomerate sizes, while saving simulation time compared to a fully numerical approach.

Journal

Journal of The Electrochemical Society

Volume

164

Year of Publication

2017

Issue

11

ISSN

0013-4651

Organization

Research Areas

Laboratory

LBNL

Type

Analysis, Legacy Papers