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    Boundary conditions for electrochemical interfaces
    (Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2017) Landstorfer, Manuel
    Consistent boundary conditions for electrochemical interfaces, which cover double layer charging, pseudo-capacitive effects and transfer reactions, are of high demand in electrochemistry and adjacent disciplines. Mathematical modeling and optimization of electrochemical systems is a strongly emerging approach to reduce cost and increase efficiency of super-capacitors, batteries, fuel cells, and electro-catalysis. However, many mathematical models which are used to describe such systems lack a real predictive value. Origin of this shortcoming is the usage of oversimplified boundary conditions. In this work we derive the boundary conditions for some general electrode-electrolyte interface based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics for volumes and surfaces. The resulting equations are widely applicable and cover also tangential transport. The general framework is then applied to a specific material model which allows the deduction of a current-voltage relation and thus a comparison to experimental data. Some simplified 1D examples show the range of applicability of the new approach.
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    Characterization of highly filled PP/graphite composites for adhesive joining in fuel cell applications
    (Basel : MDPI, 2019) Rzeczkowski, Piotr; Krause, Beate; Pötschke, Petra
    In order to evaluate the suitability of graphite composite materials for use as bipolar plates in fuel cells, polypropylene (PP) was melt compounded with expanded graphite as conductive filler to form composites with different filler contents of 10–80 wt %. Electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, and mechanical properties were measured and evaluated as a function of filler content. The electrical and thermal conductivities increased with filler content. Tensile and flexural strengths decreased with the incorporation of expanded graphite in PP. With higher graphite contents, however, both strength values remained more or less unchanged and were below the values of pure PP. Young’s-modulus and flexural modulus increased almost linearly with increasing filler content. The results of the thermogravimetric analysis confirmed the actual filler content in the composite materials. In order to evaluate the wettability and suitability for adhesive joining of graphite composites, contact angle measurements were conducted and surface tensions of composite surfaces were calculated. The results showed a significant increase in the surface tension of graphite composites with increasing filler content. Furthermore, graphite composites were adhesively joined and the strength of the joints was evaluated in the lap-shear test. Increasing filler content in the substrate material resulted in higher tensile lap-shear strength. Additionally, the influence of surface treatment (plasma and chemical) on surface tension and tensile lap-shear strength was investigated. The surface treatment led to a significant improvement of both properties.