A unit cell model of a regenerative hydrogen-vanadium fuel cell
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Munoz, CA Pino
Dewage, H Hewa
Yufit, V
Brandon, NP
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
In this study, a time dependent model for a regenerative hydrogen-vanadium fuel cell is introduced. This lumped isothermal model is based on mass conservation and electrochemical kinetics, and it simulates the cell working potential considering the major ohmic resistances, a complete Butler–Volmer kinetics for the cathode overpotential and a Tafel–Volmer kinetics near mass-transport free conditions for the anode overpotential. Comparison of model simulations against experimental data was performed by using a 25 cm2 lab scale prototype operated in galvanostatic mode at different current density values (50−600Am−2). A complete Nernst equation derived from thermodynamic principles was fitted to open circuit potential data, enabling a global activity coefficient to be estimated. The model prediction of the cell potential of one single charge-discharge cycle at a current density of 400Am−2 was used to calibrate the model and a model validation was carried out against six additional data sets, which showed a reasonably good agreement between the model simulation of the cell potential and the experimental data with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) in the range of 0.3–6.1% and 1.3–8.8% for charge and discharge, respectively. The results for the evolution of species concentrations in the cathode and anode are presented for one data set. The proposed model permits study of the key factors that limit the performance of the system and is capable of converging to a meaningful solution relatively fast (s–min).
Date Issued
2017-12-30
Date Acceptance
2017-11-17
Citation
Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2017, 164 (14), pp.F1717-F1732
ISSN
1945-7111
Publisher
Electrochemical Society
Start Page
F1717
End Page
F1732
Journal / Book Title
Journal of The Electrochemical Society
Volume
164
Issue
14
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000419187700135&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
EP/K002252/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Technology
Electrochemistry
Materials Science, Coatings & Films
Materials Science
REDOX FLOW BATTERY
POLYMER-ELECTROLYTE
CAPACITY LOSS
DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE
MATHEMATICAL-MODEL
NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS
EXCHANGE MEMBRANE
WATER TRANSPORT
SULFURIC-ACID
ION DIFFUSION
Publication Status
Published