Thermodynamic aspects of power generation in imperfect fuel cells: part I

SYNOPSIS

For steady-state fuel cells, treated as engines driven by fluxes of chemical reagents and electrochemistry of electric current generation, a power maximisation approach is developed. The first-principle theory combines Faraday's law with the efficiency formalism established from balance equations for energy, entropy and mass. Operating voltage is the departure from the ideal voltage in terms of polarisations. The power output formula follows from transport laws, irreversible polarisations and efficiency of energy generation. In the second part of this paper we shall consider imperfect conversions of reactions as another source of voltage reduction.