Dr Panagiotis Trogadas from UCL CNIE delivered an invited talk at ACC 2023

Panagiotis Trogadas from UCL CNIE delivered an invited talk on “Nature-inspired flow fields for high performance electrochemical devices” at the 1^st Aristotle Conference on Chemistry (13-15^th November) to celebrate the 80^th anniversary since the establishment of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

The abstract of his talk was as follows:

Flow-field design is crucial to electrochemical device (e.g. fuel cell) performance, since non-uniform transport of species to and from the membrane-electrode assembly results in significant power losses. The long channels of conventional, serpentine flow fields cause large pressure drops between inlets and outlets, thus large parasitic energy losses and low fuel cell performance. This issue is exacerbated for small, portable fuel cells, where the power required for fluid transport should be minimal. To ensure uniform distribution of reactants across the electrode and a low pressure drop, we use a nature-inspired design that is rooted in thermodynamic and mechanical fundamentals, rather than biomimicry in a narrow sense. Inspiration is derived from the structure of the human lung, which ensures uniform gas distribution via an optimized fractal structure linking bronchi to alveoli, and realizing a remarkable combination of minimal entropy production, low pressure drop, and scale-invariant operation. Our 3D-printed, conducting flow-field plates maintain these unique characteristics of the lung, resulting in improved fuel cell performance over conventional serpentine flow-field based fuel cells. Uniformity in reactant distribution and minimal pressure drop are retained during scale-up, demonstrating the robustness of the proposed nature-inspired approach across length scales. Implementation of effective water removal mechanisms could circumvent remaining problems of high-generation fractal flow fields. We envision that this approach can benefit disparate electrochemical engineering platforms by enhancing performance and lifetime.