TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of solvent and ionomer on agglomeration in fuel cell catalyst inks
T2 - Simulation by the Discrete Element Method
AU - So, Magnus
AU - Ohnishi, Tomohiro
AU - Park, Kayoung
AU - Ono, Masumi
AU - Tsuge, Yoshifumi
AU - Inoue, Gen
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was partially supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in the post-K computer development plan. It is under priority issue 6: “Accelerated development of innovative clean energy systems”; and sub-issue B: “Advancement of fuel cell design process with the high performance computing of gas-liquid two-phase flow and electrodes”.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC
PY - 2019/11/5
Y1 - 2019/11/5
N2 - We simulate agglomeration in different fuel cell catalyst ink solutions using Discrete Element Method. Carbon support is modelled as particles in various inks with ionomer and various solvents. The particles interact with particle-pair forces resulting in agglomerate build-up. The classical colloidal theory with van der Waals and electric double layer forces underestimates the ink stability, which motivates the development of a new model of polymer force between particles. The force is activated when there is a bridging of polymer between the carbon black particles, and the strength is dependent on the ionomer interaction with the solvent by the dielectric constant. A critical dielectric constant was defined for which ionomer form a web-like polymer network that increases the ink stability. This modification can explain the trend of the ink stability, and the model can simulate the effect of different solvents on the agglomerate size distribution with good agreement with experimental results.
AB - We simulate agglomeration in different fuel cell catalyst ink solutions using Discrete Element Method. Carbon support is modelled as particles in various inks with ionomer and various solvents. The particles interact with particle-pair forces resulting in agglomerate build-up. The classical colloidal theory with van der Waals and electric double layer forces underestimates the ink stability, which motivates the development of a new model of polymer force between particles. The force is activated when there is a bridging of polymer between the carbon black particles, and the strength is dependent on the ionomer interaction with the solvent by the dielectric constant. A critical dielectric constant was defined for which ionomer form a web-like polymer network that increases the ink stability. This modification can explain the trend of the ink stability, and the model can simulate the effect of different solvents on the agglomerate size distribution with good agreement with experimental results.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.09.012
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.09.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073011049
SN - 0360-3199
VL - 44
SP - 28984
EP - 28995
JO - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
JF - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
IS - 54
ER -
