Abstract

It is now well established that electrochemical systems can optimally perform only within a narrow range of temperature. Exposure to temperatures outside this range adversely affects the performance and lifetime of these systems. As a result, thermal management is an essential consideration during the design and operation of electrochemical equipment and, can heavily influence the success of electrochemical energy technologies. Recently, significant attempts have been placed on the maturity of cooling technologies for electrochemical devices. Nonetheless, the existing reviews on the subject have been primarily focused on battery cooling. Conversely, heat transfer in other electrochemical systems commonly used for energy conversion and storage has not been subjected to critical reviews. To address this issue, the current study gives an overview of the progress and challenges on the thermal management of different electrochemical energy devices including fuel cells, electrolysers and supercapacitors. The physicochemical mechanisms of heat generation in these electrochemical devices are discussed in-depth. Physics of the heat transfer techniques, currently employed for temperature control, are then exposed and some directions for future studies are provided.

Highlights

  • A shift from fossil fuel-based energy technologies to those based on renewable resources is a crucial prerequisite to sustainability [218]

  • This is due to the intermittency of renewable power generation, which has in turn spiked major interest in development of carbon-free energy vectors such as hydrogen

  • The results indicated that the cell performance and efficiency were highly related to the water, methanol, and heat transfer in the fuel cell

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Summary

Introduction

A shift from fossil fuel-based energy technologies to those based on renewable resources is a crucial prerequisite to sustainability [218]. Energy conversion and storage have proven to be the key requirements for such a transition to be possible This is due to the intermittency of renewable power generation, which has in turn spiked major interest in development of carbon-free energy vectors such as hydrogen. They are a key requirement because of the major diffi­ culties encountered in the large-scale storage of electricity [314] and the possibility of generation of electricity from hydrogen by employing fuel cells or combustion engines [268]. The focus of this review is on fuel cells, electrolysers and super-capacitors

Fuel cells
Thermal management of fuel cells
Heat generation mechanism in fuel cells
Importance of thermal management of fuel cells
Electrolysers
Basic thermodynamics of water and carbon dioxide electrolysis
Temperature effects on the efficiency of electrolysers
Thermal management of electrolysers
High temperature electrolysers and their thermal management
Supercapacitors
Structure of supercapacitors
Effects of temperature on supercapacitors
Supercapacitors aging mechanisms in operation at high temperatures
Extreme-temperature performances
Thermal management of supercapacitors
Different techniques used for thermal management of supercapacitors
Conclusions
Future needs
Findings
Declaration of Competing Interest
Full Text
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