Multi-physics simulation of transport phenomena in planar proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cell

A thermo-fluid reacting numerical model for the multiphysics process in the planar proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is presented. A non-dimensional formulation of the governing equations is derived aimed to specify the dimensionless quantities that influence the power generation in SOFC, those being the Sherwood, Peclet, Reynolds, Darcy, Butler–Volmer, the first Damkohler, and the third Damkohler numbers. The model is implemented in an in-house computational code and shown to be in adequate agreement with experimental data from the literature to verify the efficacy of the model. A parametric study is subsequently conducted to understand the effect of porous electrodes parameters on the performance of SOFC. It is found that decreasing the Darcy and increasing Sherwood and Reynolds numbers results in a depletion of gas species in the electrochemically active area of the cell and thus a reduction in the electrical current generation. In addition, a high Peclet and the third Damkoler numbers increase SOFC operating temperature, leading to an improvement in the cell power density.