Abstract
The process of reactant transportation greatly affects the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Therefore, a three-dimension numerical SOFC model was built to evaluate mainly the effect of the reactant transportation coupling of heat and mass transfer and electrochemical reactions, and the reliability of numerical calculations was validated. Numerical studies revealed the correlation of both increase of reactant concentration gradients and improved mass transfer capability of multi reactants in gas diffusion electrode with the enhancement of the SOFC performance, in the condition of enough supplies of the fuel and the oxidant. Further studies identified the oxygen ions conductivity in electrolytes played a critical role in energy output and thus the performance of SOFCs. For example, the current density would increase by 65% if the ionic conductivity of electrolytes doubled. This study gives insight into the significance of operational conditions, electrolytes, and structures on the ionic oxygen conductivity and further on the optimization of the SOFCs. Overall, the numerical modeling leads a clear path toward the optimization of SOFCs.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
To validate the numerical calculation, the numerical results of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) performance were compared with those in the published literature [25,27], and the cell voltage and power density versus current densities are shown in Figure 2a,b, respectively
This study focused on the effect of reactant transportations on the performance of a given SOFC
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. A two-dimensional model based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was established to study mass transport in the porous electrodes and fuel and air channels [23], and a two-dimensional model was developed to predict and evaluate the performance of an anode-supported SOFC button cell [24]. For more accurate predict behaviors of SOFC, many three dimensional mathematical models were developed or adopted to study, such as the influence of electrolyte thickness and operating parameters [25], optimized interconnect designs [26], different reactant flow channels [27], hydrodynamic and electrochemical behaviors [28], and the reaction and thermodynamic state [29].
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