Electrolysers, Fuel Cells and Batteries

Electrochemistry plays a pivotal role in the transition towards a sustainable energy future. Renewable electrical energy can be stored in batteries or used to synthesise chemicals or fuels in electrochemical reactors, like an electrolyser, producing hydrogen. This course will introduce students to the knowledge and skills required to understand, model, and optimise such electrochemical devices.

Content overview:

Porous electrode theory, multiphase flow, and transport models will be used to derive analytical current-voltage relations of various electrochemical devices, including fuel cells, batteries, electrolysers, and redox flow batteries.

Some of the topics that will be discussed in this course include:

- The Nernst-Planck equations for ionic transport in binary electrolytes.

- Porous electrode theory using the concept of an electrochemical Thiele modulus.

- The flooded agglomerate and relative permeability models for gas diffusion electrodes.

- The single particle and Newman's P2D battery models.

- A vertical current and gas distribution model for electrolysers.