Regenerative fuel cells can operate alternately as an electrolyzer and as a fuel cell,frequently involving water as a reactant or product.Modifying the electrode surface to manipulate water can prevent electrode flood...Regenerative fuel cells can operate alternately as an electrolyzer and as a fuel cell,frequently involving water as a reactant or product.Modifying the electrode surface to manipulate water can prevent electrode flooding and enhance the electrode's mass transfer efficiency by facilitating better contact with gaseous reactants.However,conventional electrodes face difficulties in allowing water droplets to penetrate in a single direction leaving electrodes.In this work to address this issue,a wettability gradient electrode is designed and fabricated for efficient water manipulation in regenerative fuel cells.The findings demonstrate that the water removal strategy in the electrolyzer mode yields the highest ammonia yield and Faradaic efficiency of 3.39×10-10 mol s-1 cm-2 and 0.49%,respectively.Furthermore,in the fuel cell mode,the discharging process sustains for approximately 20.5 h,which is six times longer than the conventional strategy.The ability to sustain the discharging process for extended periods is particularly advantageous in regenerative fuel cells,as it enables the cells to operate for longer periods without the need for regeneration.展开更多
基金supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52161160333)a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,China(N_PolyU559/21)a grant from the Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University(CD5L).
文摘Regenerative fuel cells can operate alternately as an electrolyzer and as a fuel cell,frequently involving water as a reactant or product.Modifying the electrode surface to manipulate water can prevent electrode flooding and enhance the electrode's mass transfer efficiency by facilitating better contact with gaseous reactants.However,conventional electrodes face difficulties in allowing water droplets to penetrate in a single direction leaving electrodes.In this work to address this issue,a wettability gradient electrode is designed and fabricated for efficient water manipulation in regenerative fuel cells.The findings demonstrate that the water removal strategy in the electrolyzer mode yields the highest ammonia yield and Faradaic efficiency of 3.39×10-10 mol s-1 cm-2 and 0.49%,respectively.Furthermore,in the fuel cell mode,the discharging process sustains for approximately 20.5 h,which is six times longer than the conventional strategy.The ability to sustain the discharging process for extended periods is particularly advantageous in regenerative fuel cells,as it enables the cells to operate for longer periods without the need for regeneration.
