Spin Freezing and Its Impact on Pore Size, Tortuosity and Solid State

Spin freeze-drying, as a part of a continuous freeze-drying technology, is associated with a much higher drying rate and a higher level of process control in comparison with batch freeze-drying. However, the impact of the spin freezing rate on the dried product layer characteristics is not well understood at present. This research focuses on the relation between spin-freezing and pore size, pore shape, dried product mass transfer resistance and solid state of the dried product layer. This was thoroughly investigated via high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography (µCT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal imaging and solid state X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was concluded that slow spin-freezing rates resulted in the formation of highly tortuous structures with a high dried-product mass-transfer resistance, while fast spin-freezing rates resulted in lamellar structures with a low tortuosity and low dried-product mass-transfer resistance.

Investigation of Inlet Gas Relative Humidity on Performance Characteristics of PEMFC Operating at Elevated Temperature

Raising the operating temperature is considered to be an effective method to improve the output performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In this paper, the effects of inlet relative humidity in the anode (RHa) and cathode (RHc) on the polarization curve and impedance spectra of a single rotating serpentine PEMFC were investigated by experimental method at the operating temperature of 90 °C. It was found that the output performance is the smallest in the high RH case (RHa90%/RHc90%) due to the largest mass transfer resistance. However, the ohmic resistance in the dry case (RHa50%/RHc50%) is the highest, and it shows better output performance at more than 1.0 A/cm2 because of the lowest mass transfer resistance. The impact of the changes in the RHa value on the polarization curve is more apparent than that of the RHc changes at high current density. The largest power density can be attained and the efficiency can reach 24.4% when the RHa is 90% and RHc is 50%.

Understanding Carbon Dioxide Transfer in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Using a Pore-Scale Model

The gas flow of carbon dioxide from the catalyst layer (CL) through the microporous layer (MPL) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) has great impacts on the water and fuel management in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). This work has developed a liquid–vapor two-phase model considering the counter flow of carbon dioxide gas, methanol, and water liquid solution in porous electrodes of DMFC. The model simulation includes the capillary pressure as well as the pressure drop due to flow resistance through the fuel cell components. The pressure drop of carbon dioxide flow is found to be about two to three orders of magnitude higher than the pressure drop of the liquid flow. The big difference between liquid and gas pressure drops can be explained by two reasons: volume flowrate of gas is three orders of magnitude higher than that of liquid; only a small fraction of pores (<5%) in hydrophilic fuel cell components are available for gas flow. Model results indicate that the gas pressure and the mass transfer resistance of liquid and gas are more sensitive to the pore size distribution than the thickness of porous components. To buildup high gas pressure and high mass transfer resistance of liquid, the MPL and CL should avoid micro-cracks during manufacture. Distributions of pore size and wettability of the GDL and MPL have been designed to reduce the methanol crossover and improve fuel efficiency. The model results provide design guidance to obtain superior DMFC performance using highly concentrated methanol solutions or even pure methanol.

Transient Diffusion in Bi-Layer Composites With Mass Transfer Resistance: Exact Solution and Time Lag Analysis

Exact analytical and closed-form solutions to the transient diffusion in bi-layer composites with external mass transfer resistance are reported. Expressions for the concentrations and the mass permeated are derived in both the Laplace and time domains through the use of the Laplace transform Inversion Theorem. The lead and lag times, which are often of importance in the characterization of membranes and arise from the analysis of the asymptotic behavior of the mass permeated through the bi-layer composite, were also derived. The presented solutions are also compared to previously derived limiting cases of the diffusion in a bi-layer with an impermeable wall and constant concentrations at the upstream and downstream boundaries. Analysis of the time lag shows that this membrane property is independent of the direction of flow. Finally, an outline is provided of how these transient solutions in response to a step function increase in concentration can be used to derive more complex input conditions. The importance of adequately handling boundary layer effects has a wide array of applications such as the study of bi-layers undergoing phenomena of heat convection, gas film resistance, and absorption/desorption.

Open-flow Microperfusion Combined with Mass Spectrometry for in vivo Liver Lipidomic Analysis

At present conventional microdialysis (MD) technique cannot efficiently sampling lipids in vivo, possibly due to the high mass transfer resistance and/or the serious adsorption of lipids on the semi-permeable membrane...