Author, as appears in the article.: Torras, Carles; Lorente, Esther; Hernandez, Simelys; Russo, Nunzio; Salvado, Joan
Department: Enginyeria Química
e-ISSN: 2311-5521
URV's Author/s: Salvadó Rovira, Joan / Torras Font, Carles
Keywords: Water splitting Producció d'hidrogen Photo-catalytic cell Hydrodynamics Fotosíntesi artificial Cfd - computational fluid dynamics Cfd Bubble characterization Artificial photosynthesis
Abstract: Miniaturized cells can be used in photo-electrochemistry to perform water splitting. The geometry, process variables and removal of oxygen bubbles in these cells need to be optimized. Bubbles tend to remain attached to the catalytic surface, thus blocking the reaction, and they therefore need to be dragged out of the cell. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations have been carried out to assess the design of miniaturized cells and their results have been compared with experimental results. It has been found that low liquid inlet velocities (~0.1 m/s) favor the homogeneous distribution of the flow. Moderate velocities (0.5-1 m/s) favor preferred paths. High velocities (~2 m/s) lead to turbulent behavior of the flow, but avoid bubble coalescence and help to drag the bubbles. Gravity has a limited effect at this velocity. Finally, channeled cells have also been analyzed and they allow a good flow distribution, but part of the catalytic area could be lost. The here presented results can be used as guidelines for the optimum design of photocatalytic cells for the water splitting reaction for the production of solar fuels, such as H2 or other CO2 reduction products (i.e., CO, CH4, among others).
Thematic Areas: Physics, fluids & plasmas Mechanical engineering Fluid flow and transfer processes Condensed matter physics Ciencias sociales
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
ISSN: 23115521
Author's mail: carles.torras@urv.cat joan.salvado@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0002-3112-3519 0000-0003-2238-6082
Record's date: 2024-09-07
Journal volume: 2
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5521/2/2/25
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Papper original source: Fluids. 2 (2):
APA: Torras, Carles; Lorente, Esther; Hernandez, Simelys; Russo, Nunzio; Salvado, Joan (2017). Hydrodynamics and Oxygen Bubble Characterization of Catalytic Cells Used in Artificial Photosynthesis by Means of CFD. Fluids, 2(2), -. DOI: 10.3390/fluids2020025
Article's DOI: 10.3390/fluids2020025
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2017
Publication Type: Journal Publications