Description

The primary objective of this course is to understand the fundamental science and engineering of fuel cells and redox flow batteries (i.e., reversible fuel cells). The fundamental principles of electrochemistry, thermodynamics, and kinetics of electrochemical reaction processes, as well as mass transport in electrochemical energy systems will be considered. Emphasis will be placed on operating principles and the design and diagnostics of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell as a portable energy conversion system, and the vanadium redox flow battery as a large-scale energy storage system. Cell components and their influence on the overall performance of these systems will be discussed in detail. An introduction to the cost analysis of electrochemical energy storage will be presented.