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The zinc air fuel cell (ZAFC) is a promising candidate for electrical energy storage and electric vehicle propulsion. However, its limited durability has become a major obstacle for its successful commercialization. In this study, 2-cell stacks, 25 cm² cells and three-electrode half-cells are constructed to experimentally investigate the degradation characteristics of the air cathode. The results of electrochemical tests reveal that the peak power density for the 25 cm 2 cell with a new air cathode is 454 mW cm −2 , which is twice as the value of the used air cathode. The electrochemical impedance analysis shows that both the charge transfer resistance and the mass transfer resistance of the used air cathodes have increased, suggesting that the catalyst surface area and gas diffusion coefficient have decreased significantly. Additionally, the microstructure and morphology of the catalytic layer (CL) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) are characterized by scanning electron microscopes (SEM). SEM results confirm that the micropores in CL and GDL of the used air cathode are seriously clogged, and many catalyst particles are lost. Therefore, the performance degradation is mainly due to the clogging of micropores and loss of catalyst particles. Furthermore, hypotheses of degradation mechanism and mitigation strategies for GDL and CL are discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A zinc air fuel cell (ZAFC) stack with inexpensive manganese dioxide (MnO2) as the catalyst is designed, in which the circulation flowing potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte carries the reaction product away and acts as a coolant. Experiments are carried out to investigate the characteristics of polarization, constant current discharge and dynamic response, as well as the factors affecting the performance and uniformity of individual cells in the stack. The results reveal that the peak power density can be as high as 435 mW cm−2 according to the area of the air cathode sheet, and the influence factors on cell performance and uniformity are cell locations, filled state of zinc pellets, contact resistance, flow rates of electrolyte and air. It is also shown that the time needed for voltages to reach steady state and that for current step-up or current step-down are both in milliseconds, indicating the ZAFC can be excellently applied to vehicles with rapid dynamic response demands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Morphology control is crucial both for zinc–air batteries and for zinc–air fuel cells during zinc regeneration. Zinc dendrite should be avoided in zinc–air batteries and zinc pellets are yearned to be formed for zinc–air fuel cells. This paper is mainly to analyze the mechanism of shape change and to control the zinc morphology during charge. A numerical three-dimensional model for zinc regeneration is established with COMSOL software on the basis of ionic transport theory and electrode reaction electrochemistry, and some experiments of zinc regeneration are carried out. The deposition process is qualitatively analyzed by the kinetics Monte Carlo method to study the morphological change from the electrocrystallization point of view. Morphological evolution of deposited zinc under different conditions of direct currents and pulse currents is also investigated by simulation. The simulation shows that parametric variables of the flowing electrolyte, the surface roughness and the structure of the electrode, the charging current and mode affect morphological evolution. The uniform morphology of deposited zinc is attained at low current, pulsating current or hydrodynamic electrolyte, and granular morphology is obtained by means of an electrode of discrete columnar structure in combination with high current and flowing electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Parameters in 9-state model, improved voltage model, and controller are identified. • Throttle factor of cathodic inlet is time-variant with motor voltage and its step. • Delay effect of motor voltage is noticeable and cannot be ignored. • Clear boundary estimation for super-twisting sliding mode controller is presented. The super-twisting sliding mode control (ST-SMC) is widely used in fuel cell system control due to the simple control law and strong robustness. However, it requires an accurate system model. Generally, literature usually reduces the system order and directly gives the empirical value for the system and controller parameters or conducts coefficient identification of the fuel cell voltage model, lacking the specific identification method for system physical parameters and controller parameters. In this paper, a relatively complete control-oriented nine-state fuel cell system model was established, including the model of compressor flow using the artificial neural network method, and the improved voltage model. Then, the data-driven method for key parameter identification was proposed, including the fuel cell throttle factor and motor voltage changing rate considering time delay. In addition, the parameter tuning method for controller design was proposed as well. These two methods are of originality. After the model validation in the perspective of steady and transient performance, the comparison was carried out between the ST-SMC and PID controller. It is found that the throttle factor of the cathodic fuel cell inlet and the delay effect in terms of changing rate of motor voltage impact the system model, where the throttle factor is time-variant, and the delay is noticeable which differs with the step magnitude of the motor voltage. The parameter tuning and boundary estimation of ST-SMC are very specific, owing to the process of treating flow rate as a state, not speed, and are convenient to be generalized. The better ability in anti-flooding exhibits the importance of parameter identification. Although the study is conducted in a low-pressure system, the method proposed in this paper is universal and could be applied to other fuel cell controls for better system efficiency and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]