Less can be more: Insights on the role of electrode microstructure in redox flow batteries from 2D direct numerical simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Dussi, Simone, Rycroft, Chris H.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2022
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author Dussi, Simone
Rycroft, Chris H.
author_facet Dussi, Simone
Rycroft, Chris H.
contents Understanding how to structure a porous electrode to facilitate fluid, mass, and charge transport is key to enhance the performance of electrochemical devices such as fuel cells, electrolyzers, and redox flow batteries (RFBs). Using a parallel computational framework, direct numerical simulations are carried out on idealized porous electrode microstructures for RFBs. Strategies to improve electrode design starting from a regular lattice are explored. We observe that by introducing vacancies in the ordered arrangement, it is possible to achieve higher voltage efficiency at a given current density, thanks to improved mixing of reactive species, despite reducing the total reactive surface. Careful engineering of the location of vacancies, resulting in a density gradient, outperforms disordered configurations. Our simulation framework is a new tool to explore transport phenomena in RFBs and our findings suggest new ways to design performant electrodes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2201_00423
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Less can be more: Insights on the role of electrode microstructure in redox flow batteries from 2D direct numerical simulations
Dussi, Simone
Rycroft, Chris H.
Fluid Dynamics
Numerical Analysis
Understanding how to structure a porous electrode to facilitate fluid, mass, and charge transport is key to enhance the performance of electrochemical devices such as fuel cells, electrolyzers, and redox flow batteries (RFBs). Using a parallel computational framework, direct numerical simulations are carried out on idealized porous electrode microstructures for RFBs. Strategies to improve electrode design starting from a regular lattice are explored. We observe that by introducing vacancies in the ordered arrangement, it is possible to achieve higher voltage efficiency at a given current density, thanks to improved mixing of reactive species, despite reducing the total reactive surface. Careful engineering of the location of vacancies, resulting in a density gradient, outperforms disordered configurations. Our simulation framework is a new tool to explore transport phenomena in RFBs and our findings suggest new ways to design performant electrodes.
title Less can be more: Insights on the role of electrode microstructure in redox flow batteries from 2D direct numerical simulations
topic Fluid Dynamics
Numerical Analysis
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.00423