Feasibility study of using microfluidic platforms for visualizing bubble flows in electrolyzer gas diffusion layers

被引：129

作者：

Arbabi, F. ^{[1
]}

Kalantarian, A. ^{[1
,2
]}

Abouatallah, R. ^{[3
]}

Wang, R. ^{[3
]}

Wallace, J. S. ^{[2
]}

Bazylak, A. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Toronto, Fac Appl Sci & Engn, Dept Mech & Ind Engn, Thermofluids Energy & Adv Mat TEAM Lab, Toronto, ON M5S 3G8, Canada

[2] Univ Toronto, Fac Appl Sci & Engn, Dept Mech & Ind Engn, Engine Res & Dev Lab, Toronto, ON M5S 3G8, Canada

[3] Hydrogenics Corp, Mississauga, ON L5T 2N6, Canada

来源：

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES | 2014年 / 258卷

基金：

加拿大自然科学与工程研究理事会;

关键词：

PEM electrolyzer; Bubble visualizations; Microfluidic network; GDL; Porosity distribution; PORE-NETWORK MODELS; POROUS-MEDIA; 2-PHASE FLOW; WATER TRANSPORT; POROSITY;

D O I：

10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.02.042

中图分类号：

O64 [物理化学（理论化学）、化学物理学];

学科分类号：

070305 [高分子化学与物理];

摘要：

In this study, microfluidic platforms were used to visualize air bubble transport in two-dimensional (2D) representations of gas diffusion layers (GDLs) to gain insight into how the geometric features of the GDL impact multiphase flow in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Two-dimensional porous networks were designed using volumetric pore space information, including average porosity and average throat size obtained from micro-computed tomography (micro CT) visualizations. Microfluidic chips were fabricated to represent felt, sintered powder, and foam GDLs and used to simulate the transfer of oxygen bubbles generated at the catalyst layer, through the GDL towards the flow channels of a PEM electrolyzer. The results of this work indicate that the use of microfluidic platforms for evaluating PEM electrolyzer GDLs is highly promising. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

引用

页码：142 / 149

页数：8

共 44 条

[1]

Network extraction from sandstone and carbonate pore space images [J].