Electrolysers, Fuel Cells and Batteries: Analytical Modelling

Willem Haverkort

doi:10.59490/tb.93

Electrolysers, Fuel Cells and Batteries: Analytical Modelling

Authors

Willem Haverkort

Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5028-5292

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59490/tb.93

Keywords: Electrochemical Engineering, Multiphase Flow Modelling, Physical Transport Phenomena, Porous Electrode Theory, Hydrogen Technology

Synopsis

Electrochemical engineering deals with electrochemical devices like electrolysers, fuel cells, and batteries. While several excellent books exist in this long-standing and still growing field, their focus is usually on chemistry or phenomenology. In this textbook, we focus on mathematical modelling of the physical phenomena involved. Instead of resorting to numerical modelling, the aim is to derive simplified analytical models that maximise understanding.

Porous electrodes, ion mass transport, and multiphase flow are central themes in this book. Examples include modelling the water saturation in a fuel cell diffusion layer, the gas fraction and current distribution in an alkaline water electrolyser, the potential distribution in a binary electrolyte inside porous battery electrode, and the concentration distribution in the flow channel of a redox flow battery. This makes for a diverse, challenging, and stimulating journey, for both students and researchers.

Author Biography

Willem Haverkort, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

After a PhD in computational nuclear fusion plasma physics, I worked for several years in industry, researching a wide variety of fluid flow phenomena. Presently, I am an associate professor at Delft University of Technology. In our group we work on theoretical, computational, and experimental research, increasingly centred around multiphase flow aspects of alkaline water electrolysis.