%0 Journal Article
%K Modeling
%K Cathode
%K Agglomerate
%K Double trap kinetics
%K Oxygen reduction reaction
%A Lalit M Pant
%A Adam Z Weber
%B Journal of The Electrochemical Society
%D 2017
%G eng
%N 11
%P E3102 - E3104
%R 10.1149/2.0111711jes
%T Communication—Modeling Polymer-Electrolyte Fuel-Cell Agglomerates with Double-Trap Kinetics
%V 164
%8 04/2017
%! J. Electrochem. Soc.
%X <p>A new semi-analytical agglomerate model is presented for polymer-electrolyte fuel-cell cathodes. The model uses double-trap kinetics for the oxygen-reduction reaction, which can capture the observed potential-dependent coverage and Tafel-slope changes. An iterative semi-analytical approach is used to obtain reaction rate constants from the double-trap kinetics, oxygen concentration at the agglomerate surface, and overall agglomerate reaction rate. The analytical method can predict reaction rates within 2% of the numerically simulated values for a wide range of oxygen concentrations, overpotentials, and agglomerate sizes, while saving simulation time compared to a fully numerical approach.</p>