Multi-physics field modeling and electrochemical performance analysis of medium-temperature methanol-fueled proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cell

ABSTRACT

A two-dimensional axisymmetric multi-physics field simulation for a methanol-fueled proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cell (CH₃OH-SOFC-H) was created in this work. The influence of structural and operating parameters on the performance of the cell was analyzed. Moreover, the cell performance was compared with that of a methanol-oxygen ion-conducting SOFC (CH₃OH-SOFC-O) under the same operating conditions. It was found that the anode support enables CH₃OH-SOFC-H to exhibit higher performance, with the highest power density being 1493.3 W‧m⁻² at 973 K. As the anode flow rate rises, the current density rises and subsequently falls, with a peak of 7623.6 A‧m⁻². Meanwhile, as the methanol content in the gas composition and the cathode flow rate increase, so does the current density. CH₃OH-SOFC-H has better electrochemical performance at low and medium temperatures, reaching 562.64 W‧m⁻² at 773K (66% higher than that of CH₃OH-SOFC-O at the same operating conditions). Meanwhile, CH₃OH-SOFC-O has better performance at high temperatures. This study provides a theoretical reference for the subsequent application and promotion of CH₃OH-SOFC-H.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-physics field model
• solid oxide fuel cell
• proton-conducting
• oxygen ion-conducting
• methanol

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr. Pengfei Zhu of Xi’an Jiaotong University for helpful discussions and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2024.2320751

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51605330 and 52105393), Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 18JCYBJC88700), China National Key Laboratory Foundation of Science and Technology on Materials under Shock and Impact (6142902210302) and Nonocarbon Environment Investment (Beijing) Technology Co.,Ltd (H20220093).

Notes on contributors

Yu Xu

Yu Xu is a graduate student at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology. His research interest is the multi-physics simulation of solid oxide fuel cells.

Junjie Shen

Junjie Shen is a faculty member at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Tianjin University of Technology, where his research focuses on the development of fuel cell systems.

Dechang Zhang

Deichang Zhang is a graduate student at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology.

Tiejian Jin

Tiejian Jin is a graduate student at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology. His research focuses on the durability of solid oxide fuel cell components.

Xiangru Guo

Xiangru Guo is a teacher at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology.

Jianguang Li

Jianguang Li is an employee of Monocarbon Environment Investment (Beijing) Technology Co.,Ltd.

Yichuan He

Yichuan He is a student at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Tianjin University of Technology.