A numerical study of dynamic behaviors of a unitized regenerative fuel cell during gas purging

The gas purging states affect electricity output and energy storage capacity of unitized regenerative fuel cells. In this study, a model of unitized regenerative fuel cell is established. Cell voltages and operating temperatures influences on the dynamic distribution of thermal fluid during purging process and the discharge of residual liquid water in electrolytic cell mode are investigated. The motivation of the present study is better understanding the gas purging characteristics and its effect on reaction behaviors of unitized regenerative fuel cells. Simulation results reveal a significant influence of purging gas temperature on the water flooding and a great effect of operating voltage on the water diffusion. The operating temperature of electrolytic cell model almost has little effect on purging results at different cell temperature and the same purging gas temperature. When the purging gas temperature is changed, higher temperatures of cell and purging gas facilitate liquid water discharging out from the cell regions. In cell water flooding situation, when having large liquid content, the purging gas has little effects on the water expelling process.     

A boron-11 NMR study of the stability of the alkaline aqueous solution of sodium borohydride that is both an indirect fuel and a direct fuel for low-temperature fuel cells

Alkaline aqueous solution of sodium borohydride NaBH₄ (denoted SB-fuel) is an indirect fuel when it is used to generate H₂ by hydrolysis, with the as-generated H₂ feeding a fuel cell, and it is a direct fuel when it is an anodic fuel of a direct fuel cell. However, SB-fuel suffers from a major drawback: NaBH₄ spontaneously hydrolyzes. Our study falls within this context. We studied the instability, at the NMR scale and over 12 weeks, of a series of SB-fuels (initial NaBH₄ concentration from 3.65 to 31.22 wt%, NaOH concentration from 1 to 16 M, and temperature between ?15 and 60 °C) to find the conditions at which SB-fuel can be stored for weeks in relative safety. We found that SB-fuel with a NaOH concentration of ≥8 M is relatively stable under cold conditions (?15 and 4 °C). In these conditions, NaBH₄ is not prevented from hydrolyzing, but the reaction is significantly mitigated. Otherwise, our study highlights the gaps in our understanding of the SB-fuel, emphasizes SB-fuel is a new concept of fuel (it should not be seen as any current fuel), and points out the challenges for attaining higher technology readiness levels.     

A Ti3C2Tx-carbon black-acrylic epoxy coating for 304SS bipolar plates with enhanced corrosion resistant and conductivity

A conducting and anticorrosive coating is crucial for the application of metal bipolar plates (BP) in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In this work, a Ti₃C₂T_x (T)-carbon black (C)-acrylic epoxy (AE) coating is prepared on 304 stainless steel (SS) with enhanced corrosion resistance and conductivity. The corrosion resistance of the T-C-AE coating is investigated in a 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution as compared to the AE, T, and T-AE coatings. The T-C-AE coated 304SS exhibits the strongest corrosion resistance with the most positive corrosion potential and the lowest corrosion current density of 0.00673 μA cm^?2 in all the samples, while retaining intact and compact surface morphology with the lowest metal ion dissolution even after immersed for 720 h. The addition of Ti₃C₂T_x and carbon black into the AE matrix greatly decreases interfacial contact resistance (ICR), and the T-C-AE coating achieves a low ICR of 15.5 mΩ cm^?2 under 140 N cm^?2 compaction force. The excellent anticorrosion performance is mainly attributed to the physical barrier and the cathodic protection provided by the stacked Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene) nanosheets in the T-C-AE coating. This eco-friendly, conducting, and anticorrosive T-C-AE coating has a good application prospect on SS BP of PEMFC.     

Morphological influence of graphitic carbon nanofibers by N–F dual-doping on Pt electrocatalytic activity and stability for oxygen reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Morphology of carbon nanofibers significantly effects Pt nanoparticles dispersion and specific interaction with the support, which is an important aspect in the fuel cell performance of the electrocatalysts. This study emphasizes, the defects creation and structural evolution comprised due to N–F co-doping on graphitic carbon nanofibers (GNFs) of different morphologies, viz. GNF-linearly aligned platelets (L), antlers (A), herringbone (H), and their specific interaction with Pt nanoparticle in enhancing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). GNFs–NF–Pt catalysts exhibit better ORR electrocatalytic activity, superior durability that is solely ascribed to the morphological evolution and the doped N–F heteroatoms, prompting the charge density variations in the resultant carbon fiber matrices. Amongst, H–NF–Pt catalyst performed outstanding ORR activity with exceptional electrochemical stability, which shows only 20 mV loss in the half-wave potential whilst 100 mV loss for Pt/C catalyst on 20,000 potential cycling. The PEMFC comprising H–NF–Pt as cathode catalyst with minimum loading of 0.10 mg cm^?2, delivers power density of 0.942 W cm^?2 at current density of 2.50 A cm^?2 without backpressures in H₂–O₂ feeds. The H–NF–Pt catalyst owing to its hierarchical architectures, performs well in PEMFC at the minimized catalyst loading with outstanding stability that can significantly decrease total price for the fuel cell.     

Use of La2O3 with 8YSZ as thermal barrier coating and its effect on thermal cycle behavior,microstructure, mechanical properties and performance of diesel engine operated by hydrogen-algae biodiesel blend

In this present work, the effect of lanthanum oxides (La₂O₃) on the thermal cycle behavior of TBC coatings and mechanical properties such as adhesion strength and microhardness of 8% Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (8YSZ) TBCs were investigated. CoNiCrAlY and aluminium alloy (Al–13%Si) were used as bond coat and substrate materials. 8YSZ and different wt % of La₂O₃ (10, 20, and 30%) top coatings were applied using the atmospheric plasma spray (APS) method. The thermal cycling test for TBC coated samples were conducted at 800 °C in the electric furnace. The XRD pattern shows that the La₂O₃ doped 8YSZ material transformed to cubic pyrochloric structured La₂Zr₂O₇ during thermal cycling. Further, the Taguchi-based grey relation analysis (GRA) method was applied to optimize the TBC coating parameters to achieve better mechanical properties such as adhesion strength and microhardness. And the optimized La₂O₃/8YSZ TBC coating was coated on CRDI engine combustion chamber components. The engine was tested with microalgae biodiesel and hydrogen, and the results were promising for the TBC-coated engine. The engine performance increased while using La₂O₃/8YSZ coated components, and the emissions from engine exhaust gas such as CO, HC, and smoke reduced considerably. It was found that there was no separation crack and spallation of the coating layer in the microstructure. Ultimately, the microstructural analysis of the optimized TBC coated piston sample after 50 h of running in the diesel engine confirmed that the developed coating had a superior thermal insulation effect and longer life.     

A novel design for humidifying an open-cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell using anode purge

The low performance of open-cathode proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (OCPEMFCs) is attributed to the low-humidity ambient air supplied to the cathode using electric fans. To improve the OCPEMFC performance, this paper proposes a novel humidification method by collecting water purged from the anode and supplying it to the open cathode. The OCPEMFC performance is evaluated at various humidifier distances from the cathode inlet, and it is compared with that where no humidifier is used when the OCPEMFC operates under three different current levels of 1, 5, and 8 A. The results show that the novel design improves the stack power, and optimal performance is achieved at a humidifier distance of 2 cm. The energy efficiency achieves an improvement between 1.4% and 1.8% when a humidifier is used.     

稳产国Ⅵ柴油并兼产喷气燃料技术方案的工业应用

介绍了浙江石油化工有限公司新建的3 Mt/a柴油加氢精制装置，其配套使用中国石化石油化工科学研究院有限公司开发的催化剂级配技术，并实施了可根据原料供应及市场产品需求情况灵活调整切换的2种生产技术方案。1 a的安稳生产运行结果表明:该装置以直馏柴油为主原料，通过分馏塔的馏分切割及其侧线抽出，实现了稳产国Ⅵ柴油并兼产喷气燃料技术方案的工业化应用；在实施以兼产喷气燃料为主的生产技术方案时，通过调整常一线柴油的掺炼量，不仅可以生产含硫量小于10.0 μg/g的精制柴油产品，同时兼产所得到的喷气燃料产品含硫量小于0.5 μg/g，赛波特颜色号值大于30；在实施主产精制柴油组分方案时，通过掺炼质量分数为20%~40%的催化柴油，并使所提炼得到的精制柴油组分含硫量小于6.0 μg/g的前提下，这些精制柴油组分产品既可直接作为满足国Ⅵ柴油产品出厂待售，也可作为柴油调和组分储存待用于产品的进一步优化。     

Laser damage resistance of plasma-sprayed alumina and honeycomb skeleton/alumina composite ceramic coatings

Al₂O₃ and honeycomb skeleton-Al₂O₃ composite coatings on Titanium alloy (Ti–6Al–4V) were prepared by atmospheric plasma spraying. A laser ablation experiment on as-sprayed coatings was performed. In this paper, the laser damage resistance, microstructure, phase composition of Al₂O₃ coatings were examined. 3D Dimensional Confocal Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS) characterized the laser damage morphology, microstructure, phase composition, and element analysis, respectively. The influence of the honeycomb skeleton on the laser ablation damage on as-sprayed coatings was investigated by a comparative analysis of the laser damage morphology with different laser ablation times and gas flow. The results show that the honeycomb skeleton raises thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. Moreover, a “tower”-like dendrite was generated during the laser irradiation of the composite coating. The honeycomb skeleton refined the structure, suppressed crack propagation, and reduced the influence of gas flow on cracks. Under the same experimental laser ablation parameters, the laser damage area of the honeycomb skeleton-Al₂O₃ composite coating was smaller than that of the Al₂O₃ coating. It was demonstrated that the laser damage resistance of the honeycomb skeleton-Al₂O₃ composite coating was superior to that of the Al₂O₃ coating.     

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO NRs with spray coated GO for enhanced photocatalytic activity

Zinc oxide nanorods, ZnO NRs, were synthesized on a clean glass and coated with graphene oxide (GO) using spray coating method to enhance the photocatalytic activity in wastewater treatment. The ZnO NRs were synthesized using the solution process synthesis that was optimized using Taguchi method. Several synthesis parameters have been optimized and studied to determine the best synthesis parameter to grow ZnO NRs for the photodegradation of organic contaminants. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) with EDX, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, ultraviolet visible near-infrared (UV-VIS-NIR), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies were used to investigate the structural and optical properties of the produced nanorods. FESEM images revealed the vertical growth of ZnO NRs as well as layers of GO covering the ZnO NRs' top surface. The Raman study demonstrates the combination peak of GO and ZnO, hence proving the GO layer's successful coating. After the GO coating, decrease in the bandgap of the synthesized photocatalyst was detected by PL and UV–Vis absorption measurements. Under UVC exposure with treatment time of 6 h, the degradation of MB with ZnO NRs/GO photocatalyst reached a degradation percentage of 97.86%, which is greater than the degradation percentage achieved using pristine ZnO NRs, which is 93.28%. The results validated that the coating of GO enhances the photocatalytic activity of the host material, ZnO NRs.