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Effective reaction rates of a thin catalyst layer
Author(s) -
Lenzinger Michael,
Schweizer Ben
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
mathematical methods in the applied sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1099-1476
pISSN - 0170-4214
DOI - 10.1002/mma.1223
Subject(s) - tafel equation , overpotential , catalysis , chemistry , boundary layer , reaction rate , thermodynamics , law , physics , electrochemistry , organic chemistry , electrode , political science
The catalyst layer in a fuel cell can be described with a system of reaction diffusion equations for the oxygen concentration and the protonic overpotential. The Tafel law gives an exponential expression for the reaction rate, and the Tafel slope is a coefficient in this law. We present a rigorous thin layer analysis for two reaction regimes. In the case of thin catalyst layers and bounded potentials, the original Tafel law enters as an effective boundary condition. Instead, in the case of large protonic overpotentials, we derive an exponential law that contains the doubled Tafel slope. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.