Abstract
To promote the development of anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFC), an understanding of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics in porous gas diffusion electrodes is essential. In this work, experimental polarisation curves for electrodes with different platinum catalyst loadings and oxygen partial pressures at the cathode are fitted to a physics-based porous electrode model in the voltage range from open circuit voltage (OCV) to 0.7 V. The model is verified against polarisation curves with different anode platinum catalyst loading, and hydrogen partial pressures. The reactions are described using a two-step Tafel-Volmer pathway at the anode and concentration-dependent Butler-Volmer kinetics at the cathode. The model shows a good fit to the kinetic region with an exchange current density of 1.0e-8 A/cm2, for oxygen humidified to 95 % RH at 50 °C, a charge transfer coefficient of 0.8 and a first order dependence on oxygen partial pressure. For lower oxygen partial pressure, hydrogen crossover is needed for explaining the downward shift of the polarisation curves in the kinetic region. In the experimental data, the polarisation curves show an apparent limitation at lower hydrogen partial pressures, which can be explained by the lower rate of the Tafel step at these conditions.
Determination of Kinetic Parameters for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Platinum in an AEMFC
