The effects of chemical pressurization on screen electrode fuel cells

A large amount of fuel cell research focuses on porous gas diffusion (PGD) fuel cells which currently produce the best power density. However, this sect of fuel cell technology has many obstacles to overcome before becoming a viable large scale source or power. Nevertheless, alternatives to PGD fuel cells exist. Fluidized bed electrodes (FBE), packed bed electrodes, and packed screen electrodes are discussed and analyzed in this thesis. Fluidization provides a number of benefits, but also presents a different set of obstacles. One of the largest benefits of fluidization is the possibility of using chemical pressurization to increase the reactant concentration. Perfluorocarbons (PFC), currently being used in biomedical applications as oxygen carriers in plasma, can be used to effectively raise the cathode oxygen concentration. This thesis will propose a model of perfluorocarbon emulsions as applied to an oxygen half cell. The model is first developed for the simple case of a rotating disk electrode (RDE). The predictions of this model are then compared with data obtained from a RDE experiment with and without the use of PFC's. The model is then extended to the use of packed screen electrodes.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Ahmed, Ali, S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ernest G. Cravalho.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40403

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40403