A new flow field and its two-dimension model for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)

A new flow field was designed to search flow fields fitting polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) better due its extensible. There are many independent inlets and outlets in the new flow field. The new flow field we named NINO can extend to be more general when pressures at the inlet and outlet vary and some usual flow fields will be obtained. A new mathematical model whose view angle is obverse is used to describe the flow field.

A carbon-supported Pd-P catalyst as the anodic catalyst in a direct formic acid fuel cell

In this paper, it is reported for the first time that a carbon-supported Pd-P (Pd-P/C) catalyst for the anodic catalyst in the direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) can be prepared. The Pd-P/C catalyst shows that its electrocatalytic activity and especially its stability for the oxidation of formic acid are much higher than that of a Pd/C catalyst. Therefore, the Pd-P/C catalyst may have practical applications in DFAFCs.

Preparation and properties of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)s (SPEEK)/polypyrrole composite membranes for direct methanol fuel cells

Polypyrrole (Ppy) was successfully introduced into methyl substituted sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membranes by polymerization in SPEEK solutions to improve their methanol resistance. Uniform polypyrrole (Ppy) distributed composite membranes were formed by this method by the interaction between SPEEK and Ppy. The properties of the composite membranes were characterized in detail. The composite membranes show very good proton conductive capability (25 degrees C: 0.05-0.06s cm(-1)) and good methanol resistance (25 degrees C: 5.3 x 10(-7) 1.1 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1)). The methanol diffusion coefficients of composite membranes are much lower than that of pure SPEEK membranes (1.5 x 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1)). The composite membranes show very good potential usage in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs).

Preparation and simulation of an additional catalyst layer for direct methanol fuel cell

An additional anode catalyst layer with PtRu/C was hot pressed between two Nafion (R) 112 membranes and a conventional direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) cathode/membrane/anode assembly with the above membranes as separator was fabricated. The additional catalyst layer formed an assistant cell with the cathode to prevent methanol crossover. A simple one-dimensional mathematical model was presented to describe the performance of this new type of membrane electrode assembly system. As seen from both experimental result and model analysis, the additional catalyst layer can not only effectively prevent the methanol crossover, but also generate electrical power with the crossover methanol. The percentage of output power of the assistant cell to the total power analyzed by the model is about 40% under usual condition, which is much higher than that from experimental result, indicating the potential of the development in the DMFC designing. It was also discovered that the electrical power generated from the assistant cell with crossover methanol could take higher percentage in total electrical power when the main DMFC current density became lower.

Low temperature preparation of ceria solid solutions doubly doped with rare-earth and alkali-earth and their properties as solid oxide fuel cells

A series of solid electrolytes, (Ce(0.8)Ln(0.2))(1 - x)MxO2 - delta(Ln = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, M:Alkali-earth), were prepared by amorphous citrate gel method. XRD patterns indicate that a pure fluorite phase is formed at 800 degreesC. The electrical conductivity and the AC impedance spectra were measured. XPS spectra show that the oxygen vacancies increase owing to the MO doping, which results in the increase of the oxygen ionic transport number and conductivity. The performance of ceria-based solid electrolyte is improved. The effects of rare-earth and alkali-earth ions on the electricity were discussed. The open-circuit voltages and maximum power density of planar solid oxide fuel cell using (Ce0.8Sm0.2)(1 - 0.05)Ca0.05O2 - delta as electrolyte are 0.86 V and 33 mW . cm(-2), respectively.

Effect of properties of active carbon supports on performance of Pt/C catalysts in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

The Pt/C catalysts were prepared with pine active carbon and Vulcan XC-72 active carbon as the supports. The performances of the Pt/C catalysts in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell were compared. The result indicates that the performance of Pt/Vulcan XC-72 is better than that of Pt/pine. The physical and chemical properties of the two active carbons were measured using several analysis techniques. It was found that the pore size, specific conductivity and the surface function group significantly influence the performance of the electrocatalyst.

Low temperature preparation and fuel cell properties of rare earth doped barium cerate solid electrolytes

The solid electrolytes, BaCe(0.8)Ln(0.2)O(2.9) (Ln: Gd, Sm, Eu), were prepared by the sol-gel method. XRD indicated that a pure orthorhombic phase was formed at 900 degrees C. The synthesis temperature by the sol-gel method was about 600 degrees C: lower than the high temperature solid phase reaction method. The electrical conductivity and impedance spectra were measured and the conduction mechanism was studied. The grain-boundary resistance of the solid electrolyte could be reduced or eliminated by the sol-gel method. The conductivity of BaCe0.8Gd0.2O2.9 is 7.87 x 10(-2) S.cm(-1) at 800 degrees C. The open-circuit voltage of hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell using BaCe0.8Gd0.2O2.9 as electrolyte was near to 1 V and its maximum power density was 30 mW.cm(-2).

DIRECT-INJECTION OF URINE AND DETERMINATION OF ACETAMINOPHEN BY MICELLAR LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH A WALL-JET CELL CARBON-FIBER MICROELECTRODE

A wall-jet cell/carbon fibre microelectrode detector was designed and used for the micellar liquid chromatographic assay of acetaminophen. The separations were carried out in an analytical column packed with C-18 stationary phase and the mobile phase was

AMPEROMETRIC DETECTION AT A CARBON-FIBER ARRAY RING GLASSY-CARBON DISK ELECTRODE IN A WALL-JET CELL

A wall-jet cell incorporating a carbon fibre array ring/glassy-carbon disk electrode has been constructed, and characterized by the cyclic voltammetry and flow-injection techniques. The ring (composed of several microdisks) and glassy-carbon disk electrode, can be used separately for different purposes, e.g., detection in solution without a supporting electrolyte, collection/shielding detection with dual-electrode and voltammetric/amperometric detection with series dual-electrode. The electrode shows better collection and shielding effects than usual ring-disk electrode in quiescent solution and the series dual-electrode in a thin-layer flow-through cell. The detection limit at the ring electrode is comparable with that at a conventional-size electrode, and has been used in the mobile phase without a supporting electrolyte, proving to be a promising detector for normal-phase liquid chromatography.

Evaluation of the pyrolytic and kinetic characteristics of Enteromorpha prolifera as a source of renewable bio-fuel from the Yellow Sea of China

The pyrolytic and kinetic characteristics of Enteromorpha prolifera from the Yellow Sea were evaluated at heating rates of 10, 20 and 50 degrees C min(-1), respectively. The results indicated that three stages appeared during pyrolysis; dehydration, primary devolatilization and residual decomposition. Differences in the heating rates resulted in considerable differences in the pyrolysis of E. prolifera. Specifically, the increase of heating rates resulted in shifting of the initial temperature, peak temperature and the maximum weight loss to a higher value. The average activation energy of E. prolifera was 228.1 kJ mol(-1), the pre-exponential factors ranged from 49.93 to 63.29 and the reaction orders ranged from 2.2 to 3.7. In addition, there were kinetic compensation effects between the pre-exponential factors and the activation energy. Finally, the minimum activation energy was obtained when a heating rate of 20 degrees C min(-1) was used. (C) 2009 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A semi-analytical theory of coastal upwelling and jet

The general forms of the conservation of momentum, temperature and potential vorticity of coastal ocean are obtained in the x-z plane for the nonlinear ocean circulation of Boussinesq fluid, and a elliptic type partial differential equations of second order are derived. Solution of the partial differential equations are obtained under the conditions that the fluid moves along the topography. The numerical results show that there exist both upwelling and downwelling along coastline that mainly depends on the large scale ocean condition. Numerically results of the upwelling (downwelling), coastal jet and temperature front zone are favorable to the observations.

Restructuring of a zooplankton community by perturbation from a wind-forced coastal jet

The impact of transient wind events on an established zooplankton community was observed during a, field survey in a, coastal region off northern Norway in May 2002. A transient wind event induced a coastal jet/filament intrusion of warm, saline water into our survey area where a semi-permanent eddy was present. There was an abrupt change in zooplankton community structure within 4-7 days of the wind event, with a change in the size structure, an increase in lower size classes less than 1 mm in equivalent spherical diameter (ESD) and a decrease in larger size classes greater than 1.5 mm in ESD. The slope of zooplankton biovolume spectra changed from -0.6 to -0.8, consistent with the size shifting towards smaller size classes. This study shows that even well established zooplankton communities are susceptible to restructuring during transient wind events, and in particular when wind forcing induces horizontal currents or filaments.

A study on the dependence of the micro-pore configurations on the volatilization and the burn processes of the organic compounds in the matrix of molten carbonate fuel cells

The micro-pore configurations on the matrix surface were studied by SEM. The matrix of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) performance was also improved by the better coordination between the reasonable radius of the micro-pores and the higher porosity of the cell matrix. The many and complicated micro-pore configurations in the cell matrix promoted the volatilization of the organic additives and the burn of polyvinyl butyral (PVB). The smooth volatilization of the organic additives and the complete burn of PVB were the significant factors for the improved MCFC performance. Oxygen diffusion controlled-burn mechanism of PVB in the cell matrix was proposed. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.