Abstract
This work develops an unsteady state, nonisothermal, and three-dimensional model of the anion exchange membrane direct glucose fuel cell (AEM-DGFC). The model includes heat transfer and mass transports across DGFC, the reaction kinetics of catalyst layers, and the Ohmic resistance of the AEM electrolyte. The governing equations are solved numerically by the method of lines. The model predicts the concentration profiles of various chemical species and the temperature distributions in various fuel cell layers, during the transient startup period. The steady state model predictions agree well with the previous experimental data. The anodic overpotential is high relative to the cathodic, and the Ohmic overpotentials are due to the complex kinetics of the glucose electro-oxidation. The increases in the limited glucose and potassium hydroxide concentrations are shown to elevate the DGFC operation. Specifically, the cell performance is enhanced with increasing operating temperature, cathode side pressure, pressure drop across fuel cell, and porosity of catalyst layer, whereas the cell voltage diminishes with increasing membrane thickness. In summary, the optimal operating conditions are the operating temperature of 340 K, the cathode side pressure of 3 atm, the pressure drop of 0.036 atm, the membrane thickness of 0.0035 cm, and the catalysis layer porosity of 0.45.
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