Investigation of the Double-Trap Intrinsic Kinetic Equation for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction and its implementation into a Membrane Electrode Assembly model.

• Author / Creator

  Moore, Michael

• A significant contributor to performance loss in polymer electrolyte fuel cells is the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). A major challenge facing researchers is the development of a kinetic model that accurately accounts for ORR kinetics. Wang et al. proposed a kinetic model that assumes the ORR is comprised of four intermediate steps and two intermediate species. The model can predict the commonly observed doubling of the Tafel slope. The model had several limitations such as underpredicting Tafel slopes at low overpotentials. In this work, the model is extended to better account for oxygen depletion and the backward reactions. Parameter estimation is used to determine new kinetic parameters. The new kinetic model and parameters provide a good match to the experimental data used to obtain the kinetic parameters. Implementation of this model into a high-fidelity MEA model matches experimental data over numerous operating conditions and catalyst layer compositions.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Double-trap kinetic equation
  • ORR
  • Pem fuel cell

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R38358

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.