Modeling and Simulation of Mass Transfer Process of Tubular Cathode in a Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell

抄録

The tubular cathode bodies of a direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) are shaped by the gelcasting technology and the tubular cathode is prepared by spraying the diffusion layer and the Pt/C catalyst layer after the sintering process based on raw material of mesocarbon microbead (MCMB) and graphite. The process of mass transfer in DEFC is simulated using CFD software including the concentration of oxygen, liquid water saturation inside the tubular cathode and the cell performance under different operating temperature, inlet pressure and porosity. The results show that proper increase in operating temperature and porosity have obvious improvements on mass transfer process and the cell performance, while inlet pressure has little impact on cell performance.