Academic literature on the topic 'Oxygen diffusivity'

Oxygen diffusivity in ZnO ceramics doped with cobalt was investigated using an isotope tracer method. The oxygen isotope (18O) was introduced by 18O/16O exchange annealing in an 18O2 atmosphere, and the depth profile of the 18O concentration was analyzed by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The results show that oxygen diffusivity in ZnO steeply increases with increasing Co concentration. In fact, the bulk oxygen diffusivity in 15 mol% Co-doped ZnO was four orders of magnitude greater than that of nominally non-doped ZnO. Oxygen diffusivity at grain boundaries was also enhanced by Co-doping.

Oxygen diffusion in porous media (ODPM) with rough surfaces (RS) under dry and wet conditions is of great interest. In this work, a novel fractal model for the oxygen effective diffusivity of porous media with RS under dry and wet conditions is proposed. The proposed fractal model is expressed in terms of relative roughness, the water saturation, fractal dimension for tortuosity of tortuous capillaries, fractal dimension for pores, and porosity. It is observed that the normalized oxygen diffusivity decreases with increasing relative roughness and fractal dimension for capillary tortuosity. It is found that the normalized oxygen diffusivity increases with porosity and fractal dimension for pore area. Besides, it is seen that that the normalized oxygen diffusivity under wet condition decreases with increasing water saturation. The determined normalized oxygen diffusivity is in good agreement with experimental data and existing models reported in the literature. With the proposed analytical fractal model, the physical mechanisms of oxygen diffusion through porous media with RS under dry and wet conditions are better elucidated. Every parameter in the proposed fractal model has clear physical meaning, with no empirical constant.

A temperature programmed method for determining diffusivities has been previously applied to oxygen diffusivity in V2O5. In this communication we extend the method to the case of oxygen diffusivity in MoO3. The reduction of MoO3 to MoO2 using NH3 is utilized to obtain experimental parameters such as the temperature of reduction and the activation energy for oxygen diffusion. These parameters are in turn used to solve Fick's equation for the oxygen diffusivity D0. The utility of this temperature programmed method for obtaining diffusivities has now been clearly established by extension to MoO3.

It is a worldwide priority to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2. One solution for reducing these emissions is to improve the efficiency of energy production units by increasing their operating temperature. However, in order to increase operating temperature, new austenitic materials based on the Fe-Ni-Cr system have to be designed. In addition, these materials need to exhibit good protection against high temperature oxidation, which is achieved by the formation of a slow growing chromium oxide or alumina scale on the metal. However, to predict the formation of a protective scale, knowledge of the oxygen permeability, the product of oxygen solubility and diffusivity, in the base alloy is required. The objective of this study is to measure the permeability, solubility and diffusivity of oxygen in Fe- Ni alloys at temperatures above 1,000°C. In order to obtain the best results, the formation of an external oxide layer during the experiment has to be avoided. To achieve this, the oxygen partial pressure was fixed at the Fe/FeO equilibrium pressure in all experiments. In addition, two types of atmospheres were used: one dry and one wet, in order to investigate the effect of water vapour on oxygen permeability, solubility and diffusivity. The dry atmosphere was achieved using the Rhines Pack technique. The samples were oxidised in vacuum-sealed quartz capsules, which contained a mixture of powdered iron and wüstite. The humid atmosphere was obtained by using H2/H2O gas mixtures with the appropriate water vapour to hydrogen ratio to fix oxygen partial pressure at the Fe/FeO equilibrium. The maximum oxygen solubility was found in pure iron, and decreased continuously with nickel additions to the alloy. The dependence of solubility on alloy composition is non-ideal, and cannot be predicted from simple models. Moreover, the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere seems to increase the solubility by a factor of 2 in alloys with nickel content lower than 80 at.% at temperatures near 1,000°C. However, at 1,150°C the solubility of the oxygen is independent of the environment. The oxygen permeability was determined by measuring the internal oxidation kinetics of Fe-Ni-Cr alloy. These kinetics were evaluated by measuring the internal oxidation zone depth by optical microscopy, or by continuous and discontinuous thermogravimetry. Results showed that the oxygen permeability exhibits the same variation with alloy composition as the oxygen solubility, independent of the atmosphere. In particular, no significant effect of water vapour on oxygen permeability values was observed. In the present study, the oxygen diffusion coefficient was also determined using permeability, in addition to the independent measurement of the oxygen solubility carried out in the present study. For temperature above 1,000°C, the variation of oxygen diffusion coefficient with the alloy composition is similar in all environments tested, and a maximum is observed for alloys with a nickel content of 40 at.%. However, for a given nickel content up to 60 at.%, the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere decreases the value of the oxygen diffusion coefficient by a factor of 2-3 at 1,000°C. In addition, this difference between diffusion coefficients measured in a dry and wet atmosphere increases as the temperature decreases. Overall, it was found that the water vapour has no effect on the way in which oxygen permeability, solubility and diffusivity vary with the alloy composition. However, the presence of water vapour in the environment appears to increase the oxygen solubility and decrease the oxygen diffusivity in iron-rich alloys, the effect being more significant at low temperatures. These results suggest further research into interactions between O, H and metal vacancies, particularly for temperature around 1,000°C and below, as the latter defect is thought to change the diffusion and solubility properties of interstitial species.

Two different types of rhizomorphs were produced by A. luteobubalina in vitro conditions - aerial and submerged. They differed in growth rate, amount of mucilage, extent of peripheral hyphae, degree of pigmentation and in the structure of inner cortex. Otherwise they had a similar internal structure comprising 4 radial zones, namely, peripheral hyphae, outer cortex, inner cortex and medulla. Two membrane permeant symplastic fluorescent tracers, carboxy-DFFDA and CMAC which ultimately sequestered in vacuoles, behaved in a similar fashion in aerial and submerged rhizomorphs regardless of whether pigment was present in the outer cortical cell walls or in the extracellular material. Rhizomorphs appeared to be mostly impermeable to these probes with exception of a few fluorescent patches that potentially connected peripheral hyphae to inner cortical cells. In contrast, the apoplastic tracer HPTS which was applied to fresh material and its localisation determined in semi-thin (dry) sections following anhydrous freeze substitution appeared to be impeded by the pigmentation in cell walls and/or the extracellular material in the outer cortical zone. Structures identified as air pores arose directly from the mycelium and grew upwards into the air. A cluster of rhizomorph apices is initiated immediately beneath the air pores. As air pores elongated they differentiated into a cylindrical structure. Mature air pores became pigmented as did also the surface mycelium of the colony. The pigmented surface layer extended into the base of air pores, where it was elevated into a mound by tissue inside the base of the air pore. Beneath the pigmented surface layer there was a region of loose hyphae with extensive gas space between them. This gas space extended into the base of the air pore and was continuous with the central gas canal of rhizomorphs. Oxygen is conducted through the air pores and their associated rhizomorph gas canals into the oxygen electrode chamber with a conductivity averaging 679??68x10-12 m3s-1. The time averaged oxygen concentration data from the oxygen electrode chamber were used to compare three different air pore diffusion models. It was found that the widely used pseudo-steady-state model overestimated the oxygen conductivity. Finally, a model developed on the basis of fundamental transport equations was used to calculate oxygen diffusivities. This model gave a better comparison with the experimental data.

An experimental technique based on the immobilisation of dislocations by segregation of impurity atoms to the dislocation core (dislocation locking) has been developed and used to investigate the critical conditions for slip occurrence in Czochralski-grown and nitrogen-doped floating-zone-grown silicon crystals. The accumulation of nitrogen and oxygen impurities along a dislocation and the resulting dislocation locking effect has been investigated in silicon samples subjected to different annealing conditions. In particular, the stress needed to unlock the dislocations after their decoration by impurities has been measured as a function of annealing duration and temperature. The approach used in this study has allowed the determination of new diffusivity data for oxygen and nitrogen in silicon in the technologically important range of temperatures 350-850°C. No other data covering such wide temperature range are available in the literature. In addition to transport properties, the binding energy of an impurity atom to a dislocation in silicon has been deduced from the experimental data in the case of oxygen and nitrogen impurities. A discussion in terms of the impurity species responsible for transport (monomers or dimers) and dislocation locking is also presented. The role of oxide precipitates in the generation of glide dislocation loops and the parameters affecting the occurrence of slip have been investigated in silicon samples containing precipitates of different sizes and different morphologies. The fundamental parameters deduced in this work have been used to develop a numerical model to investigate the effect of different heat treatments on the mechanical properties of silicon wafers containing a controlled distribution of impurities. This model has then been used to simulate real wafer processing conditions during device fabrication to show how they may be modified to increase dislocation locking. It is hoped that these results will have relevance to how wafers are processed in order to minimise or eliminate dislocation multiplication and consequent warpage.

Actuellement, les méthodes d’essais normalisées, couramment utilisées pour étudier la carbonatation du béton, s’appuient sur l’évaluation de la chute du pH (<9) de la solution interstitielle d'un échantillon de béton exposé à des concentrations ambiantes ou très élevées de CO2 (2% à 50% en volume). Ces méthodes sont souvent critiquées car soit, elles nécessitent beaucoup de temps (plus d’une année pour la carbonatation naturelle), soit elles sont coûteuses et d’une faible fiabilité (la carbonatation accélérée, notamment quand la concentration de CO2 est supérieure à 3% CO2). Deux mécanismes principaux pilotent la carbonatation: le transport diffusif du dioxyde de carbone gazeux, qui est régi par le coefficient de diffusion effectif de cette espèce dans le milieu poreux, et la consommation de CO2 par la quantité de produits carbonatables présente dans la matrice cimentaire. Ces deux propriétés du matériau sont requises pour les modèles prédictifs de la profondeur de carbonatation des matériaux cimentaires. L’objectif de ce travail est donc de développer deux méthodes d’essai simples et fiables pour déterminer ces deux propriétés.D’abord, nous avons développé et validé une méthode d’essai permettant de déterminer le coefficient de diffusion effectif d’oxygène (De,O2) de neufs pâtes de ciment durcies et 44 bétons pré-conditionnés à différentes humidités relatives. L'influence de la durée d'hydratation, du rapport eau sur liant, de la carbonatation accélérée (1% CO2) et du type de liant sur la diffusivité de l'oxygène est étudiée sur des bétons et pâtes de ciment durcies. L’influence de l’épaisseur de l’échantillon de béton testé sur le De,O2 est évaluée à l'état sec et après conditionnement des bétons à une humidité relative de 93%. La corrélation entre la perméabilité à l'oxygène et le coefficient de diffusion effective d’oxygène est étudiée sur 44 mélanges de béton.Une deuxième méthode d’essai est développée pour étudier le taux instantané de fixation de CO2 et la quantité de produits carbonatables de pâtes de ciment hydratées, de phases pures d’hydrates et anhydres synthétisées. Les échantillons ont été carbonatés dans des systèmes ouverts sous humidités relatives contrôlées et concentration ambiante de CO2, puis le système bascule en configuration fermée pour mesurer la quantité de CO2 fixée par le matériau testé pendant une courte période. Cette méthode d’essai permet de déterminer l’évolution en fonction de temps du taux instantané de réaction de carbonatation et de la capacité de fixation de CO2 sous différents environnements. Un bon accord entre les résultats de la nouvelle méthode d’essai et l'analyse thermogravimétrique a été observé, ce qui met en évidence la fiabilité et la précision de la méthode de test développée.Les résultats obtenus des essais de diffusion et les quantités de produits carbonatables sont intégrés dans des modèles de prédiction de la profondeur de carbonatation. Ces profondeurs de carbonatation ont été comparées aux profondeurs de carbonatation déterminées directement sur les mêmes matériaux par pulvérisation de phénolphtaléine, en carbonatation naturelle et accélérée
The current standardized methods used to investigate the carbonation performance of concrete are based on the direct determination of the pH variation on the surface of a concrete specimen exposed to ambient or higher CO2 concentration. These methods are either time-consuming (natural carbonation) or of a questionable accuracy (accelerated carbonation). The carbonation physicochemical process involves two major mechanisms: gaseous CO2 diffusion into the cementitious material’s porous network and its dissolution and reaction with CaO of the hardened cement paste. Most carbonation depth prediction models require the CO2-effective diffusion coefficient and the amount of carbonatable products as input parameters. Hence the aim of this work is to develop two simple and reliable test methods to determine these two properties in a reliable and cost-effective manner.First we developed and validated a test method to determine the oxygen-effective diffusion coefficient (De,O2) of nine different hardened cement pastes preconditioned at different relative humidity levels, and 44 concrete mixtures. The influence of the hydration duration, water-per-binder ratio, accelerated carbonation, and binder type on the oxygen diffusivity was investigated. The dependence of the De,O2 on the tested concrete specimen thickness was investigated at the dry state and after conditioning at 93%RH. The De,O2 was determined before and after full carbonation of six concrete mixtures previously conditioned at different RH. A correlation between oxygen permeability and diffusivity is investigated on 44 concrete mixtures.A second test method is developed to determine the instantaneous CO2 binding rate and the amount of carbonatable products of powdered hydrated cement pastes and synthetic anhydrous and hydrates. The samples were carbonated in open systems at ambient CO2 concentration and controlled relative humidity, and then the system switches into a closed configuration while the measurement of the CO2-uptake is performed over a short period of time. The test method allows for the measurement of the carbonation reaction rate and capacity; and their evolution as function of time under different RH. The developed method shows advantages for being nondestructive, allowing the samples to carbonate at controlled CO2 concentration and humidity, and providing measurements with low cost equipment. A good agreement between the test method results and thermogravimetric analysis was observed, which highlights the reliability and accuracy of the developed test method.The results obtained from the gaseous diffusion coefficient and carbonatable products test methods were used as inputs for carbonation depth prediction models. A correlation was investigated between the measured carbonation depth on different concrete and hydrated cement pastes mixtures by means of phenolphthalein solution under both natural and accelerated exposure. The results were compared with the calculated carbonation depth using our experimental results
Die zurzeit verwendeten Methoden zur Untersuchung des Karbonatisierungs-widerstandes von Beton basieren auf der direkten Bestimmung des pH-Wertes der oberflächennahen Betonrandzone, die zuvor einer bestimmten Prüflagerung ausgesetzt war (relative Luftfeuchte, spezifische CO2-Konzentrationen). Diese Methoden sind jedoch entweder sehr zeitaufwändig (natürliche Karbonatisierung) oder von fraglicher Praxisnähe (beschleunigte Karbonatisierung). Der physikalisch-chemische Karbonatisierungsprozess beinhaltet zwei Hauptmechanismen: die Diffusion von gasförmigem CO2 in das poröse Netzwerk des Betons und dessen Auflösung und Reaktion mit CaO der ausgehärteten Zementsteins. Die meisten Modelle zur Vorhersage der Karbonatisierungstiefe erfordern den effektiven CO2-Diffusionskoeffizienten und die Menge an karbonatisierbarer Masse als Eingabeparameter. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, zwei einfache und zuverlässige Testmethoden zu entwickeln, um diese beiden Eigenschaften zuverlässig und kostengünstig zu bestimmen.Nach Entwicklung und Validierung einer geeigneten Testmethode zur Messung von Sauerstoffdiffusionskoeffizienten (De,O2), wurden diese an neun verschiedenen Zementproben gemessen, die bei unterschiedlichen relativen Luftfeuchten vorkonditioniert wurden. Anschließend wurden 44 verschiedene Betonmischungen geprüft. Bei diesen wurde die Hydratationsdauer und der Wasserbindemittelwert variiert. Die Abhängigkeit des Sauerstoffdiffusionskoeffizienten De,O2 von der getesteten Betonprobendicke wurde im trockenen Zustand und nach Konditionierung bei 93% relativer Luftfeuchtigkeit untersucht. Der Sauerstoffkoeffizient De,O2 wurde vor und nach der vollständigen Carbonisierung von sechs Betonmischungen bestimmt, die zuvor bei unterschiedlicher relativer Luftfeuchtigkeit vorkonditioniert worden waren. Eine zweite Testmethode wurde entwickelt, um die momentane CO2-Bindekapazität und die Menge an karbonatisierbarer Masse aus pulverförmigen Zementhydratpasten und synthetischen wasserfreien Produkten und Hydraten zu bestimmen. Die Proben wurden zunächst in offenen Systemen bei einer CO2-Konzentration in der Umgebung und einer kontrollierten relativen Luftfeuchtigkeit gegeben, um danach dann in eine geschlossene Konfiguration umzuwechseln. So konnte man die CO2-Aufnahme über einen kurzen Zeitraum nachverfolgen. Die Testmethode ermöglicht die Messung der Karbonatisierungsreaktionsrate und –kapazität in Abhängigkeit der Zeit unter verschiedenen relativen Luftfeuchten der Umgebungsluft. Es wurde eine gute Übereinstimmung zwischen den Ergebnissen der Testmethode und der thermogravimetrischen Analyse festgestellt, was die Zuverlässigkeit und Genauigkeit der entwickelten Untersuchungsmethodik unterstreicht.Die Ergebnisse beider Tests wurden als Input für Vorhersagemodelle für den zeitabhängigen Karbonatisierungsfortschritt von Beton verwendet. Es wurde eine Korrelation zwischen der gemessenen Karbonatisierungstiefe an verschiedenen Beton- und Zementhydratmischungen mittels Phenolphthaleinlösung untersucht, wobei u. a. Karbonatisierungstiefen bestimmt nach natürlicher Lagerung mit berechneten/vorhergesagten Karbonatisierungstiefen, die mithilfe der vorgestellten Modellierung und Inputdaten aus Test miteinander verglichen wurden

In the presented paper, the applicability of pressure-decay methods to determine the diffusivities of gases in hydraulic fluids is analysed. First, the method is described in detail and compared to other measurement methods. Secondly, the thermodynamics and the mass transfer process of the system are studied. This results in four different thermodynamic models of the gaseous phase in combination with two diffusion models. Thirdly, the influence of the models on the pressure-decay method is evaluated computationally by examining the diffusion process of air in water as all system parameters are available from literature. It is shown that ordinary pressure-decay methods are not applicable to gas mixtures like air and therefore a new method for calculating the diffusivities is suggested.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
化學工程學研究所
94
The dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in aerobic granules were measured using microelectrodes, based on which the diffusivity of oxygen was thereby estimated. Considering granules of low bioactivity, the acetate-fed granules of size 1.28-2.50 mm exhibited diffusivity of 1.24-2.28 x10-9 m2 s-1; while phenol-fed granules of size 0.42-0.78 mm had diffusivities of 2.50-7.65 x10-10 m2 s-1. Based on confocal laser scanning microscope testing the interior of granules exhibited layered structure. The steady-state DO concentrations of phenol-fed granule were recorded, showing that oxygen had been depleted in the surface reacting layer of granule. The oxygen diffusivity inside this reacting layer was estimated 1.34-1.82x10-9 m2 s-1 by assuming an mean oxygen concentration. Considering both steady-state and transient DO responses, the acetate-fed granule had diffusivity of oxygen of 0.6-1.3x10-9 m2s-1, while the phenol-fed granules had diffusivity of 2.5-4.6x10-10m2s-1. Both reaction and diffusion limits the oxygen transport in aerobic granules.

Although evidence is mounting that asphalt binder oxidizes in pavements, and that oxidation and subsequent hardening of asphalt binder has a profound effect on pavement durability, important implementation issues remain to be better understood. Quantitative assessment of asphalt binder oxidation for a given pavement is a very important, but complex issue. In this dissertation, a fundamentals-based oxygen transport and reaction model was developed to assess quantitative asphalt binder oxidation in pavements. In this model, oxygen transport and reaction were described mathematically as two interlinked steps: 1) diffusion and/or flow of oxygen from the atmosphere above the pavement into the interconnected air voids in the pavement; and 2) diffusion of oxygen from those air voids into the adjoining asphalt-aggregate matrix where it reacts with the asphalt binder. Because such a model calculation depends extensively on accurately representing pavement temperature, understanding oxygen diffusivity in asphalt binders and mastics, and characterizing air voids in pavements, these key model elements were studied in turn. Hourly pavement temperatures were calculated with an improved one-dimensional heat transfer model, coupled with methods to obtain model-required climate data from available databases and optimization of site-specific pavement parameters nationwide; oxygen diffusivity in binders was determined based on laboratory oxidation experiments in binder films of known reaction kinetics by comparing the oxidation rates at the binder surface and at a solid-binder interface at the film depth. The effect of aggregate filler on oxygen diffusivity also was quantified, and air voids in pavements were characterized using X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) and image processing techniques. From these imaging techniques, three pavement air void properties, radius of each air void (r), number of air voids (N), and average shell distance between two air voids (rNFB) were obtained to use as model inputs in the asphalt binder oxidation model. Then, by incorporating these model element improvements into the oxygen transport and reaction model, asphalt binder oxidation rates for a number of Texas and Minnesota pavements were calculated. In parallel, field oxidation rates were measured for these corresponding pavement sites and compared to the model calculations. In general, there was a close match between the model calculations and field measurements, suggesting that the model captures the most critical elements that affect asphalt binder oxidation in pavements. This model will be used to estimate the rate of asphalt binder oxidation in pavements as a first step to predicting pavement performance, and ultimately, to improve pavement design protocols and pavement maintenance scheduling.

Intervertebral disc (IVD) is the largest avascular structure in the human body and nutrition supply into IVD is mainly through diffusion from the peripheral blood vessels. Poor nutrition supply to the disc is believed to be one of the causes for disc degeneration. While many studies have aimed at studying and analyzing the effect of mechanical loading on water content, chemical composition, and nutritional levels in IVD [1–3], no study has been reported to investigate the effect of mechanical compression on oxygen diffusion in the IVD tissue. The objective of this study was to determine oxygen diffusivity in annulus fibrosus (AF) samples under different levels of compression.

La0.8Sr0.2Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF) coating on Fe-Cr alloy was examined for use as interconnects in SOFC. Thermal cyclic oxidation was conducted on the LSCF coated Fe-Cr alloy to evaluate the interface evolution at LSCF/oxide scale/Fe-Cr alloy. The thickness of oxide scales increased at the LSCF coating/Fe-Cr alloy interfaces with increasing the number of thermal cycles. SIMS depth profiles were obtained after thermal cycling for the LSCF/alloy interfaces region: the oxide scale consisted of (Fe)-Mn-Cr spinel, Cr2O3, and SiO2. Elemental distribution of oxide scales is very similar to the non-coated Fe-Cr alloy. A relatively high diffusivity of oxygen (oxide ions) was observed within the LSCF coating. However, the diffusion of oxygen was blocked by the oxide scales, especially at the Cr2O3 region. The oxide scale growth rates were effectively reduced by the LSCF coating on the Fe-Cr alloy. The effects of the LSCF coating on the oxide scale growth are discussed.

The mass transfer characteristics of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) are closely related to the performance. In this study, the oxygen diffusivity of paper and cloth type porous media, which are generally used as GDLs, were measured with respect to liquid water content, using experimental apparatus consisting of an oxygen sensor based on a galvanic battery. Paper type porous media, both non treated and hydrophilic treated, and the cloth type porous media with non treated surface were used as GDL specimens. The porosity of both specimens was almost the same, but the representative pore diameter of the cloth type GDL was approximately three times larger than that of paper type GDL. Two methods were utilized to impregnate liquid water into the porous GDL media to realize different water distributions in the specimens at the initial state; vacuum impregnation and moist air condensation impregnation. The oxygen diffusivities of the specimens were measured to clarify the influence of the two impregnation methods on the oxygen diffusion characteristics. Moreover, the relation between the measurement of oxygen diffusivity and the visualization of the liquid water distribution by using Neutron Radiography [Tasaki et al. (2007)] was investigated for the paper and cloth type GDLs. The oxygen diffusivity in the paper type porous media decreased precipitously with increasing water saturation by the vacuum impregnation method, whereas the diffusivity decrease was relatively small when impregnated by the moist air condensation method. For the cloth type porous media with weaving threads, oxygen diffusion characteristics were independent of the water impregnation method. Thus, the porous medium’s microstructure plays an important role in determining diffusion characteristics, especially in the presence of liquid water.

In the present study, a three dimensional pore network, consisting of spherical pores and cylindrical throats, is developed to simulate the oxygen diffusion and liquid water permeation in gas diffusion layer (GDL) in low-temperature fuel cell. Oxygen transport in the throats is described by Fick’s law and liquid water permeation in the network is simulated using percolation invasion algorithm. The effects of heterogeneity of GDL, connectivity of pores, and liquid water saturation on oxygen effective diffusivity are investigated respectively. The simulation results show that the GDL structure has a significant influence on the oxygen and water transport in the GDL. The oxygen effective diffusivity increases with increasing pore connectivity and decreasing heterogeneity. The shielding effect of large throats by smaller ones enhances with increasing heterogeneity of the network. Furthermore, the oxygen transportation is blocked in the presence of liquid water permeation. Thus the oxygen effective diffusivity drops significantly with increasing water saturation.

The oxygen transfer characteristics of the gas diffusion layer are closely related to the cell performance of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell. In this study, a new hybrid gas diffusion layer is proposed in which two porous media with different wettabilities are arranged alternately for augmentation of the oxygen diffusivity in the gas diffusion layer. Since the movement of water from hydrophobic to hydrophilic media due to the difference in capillary pressure, the oxygen diffusion paths in the porous media can be maintained. The oxygen diffusion characteristics with respect to water saturation were measured using an experimental apparatus that uses a galvanic battery oxygen sensor as an oxygen absorber. The experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid structure has superior oxygen diffusion characteristics than a conventional gas diffusion layer with a single porous material with moisture. That is, the effective oxygen diffusivity of the hybrid configuration was almost five times larger than that of the single type at water saturation S = 0.2.

Improved oxygen diffusivity is essential for reducing mass transport losses in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). In this work, effective oxygen diffusivity in the presence of liquid water inside a gas diffusion layer (GDL) was investigated by means of coupled experimental and numerical analyses. In order to control the liquid water content inside the GDL, a temperature gradient method was developed. In a separate experiment liquid water content inside the GDL was measured by neutron radiography (NR) and analyzed by using a two-phase, non-isothermal numerical model. The model accurately reproduced the total liquid water content and was in qualitative agreement with the liquid saturation trend as obtained from the NR experiments, which was utilized to estimate the liquid saturation in the limiting current experiment. Based on the predicted liquid water profile, the dependence of effective oxygen diffusivity on the liquid water saturation is deduced. It is found that the Bruggeman exponent factor is much larger than the predictions from network models and this suggests that the understanding of the relationship between liquid water transport and the GDL local structure is important.

Poor nutritional supply has been a major concern for the health of intervertebral disc (IVD) since the IVD is the largest avascular tissue in the human body. The transport of vital nutrients to cells relies on diffusion and convection through the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the IVD. Transport and metabolism of nutrients (e.g., oxygen and glucose) within the IVD depend on many factors, including the material properties of ECM (e.g., permeability, elastic modulus, and solute diffusivity), cellular metabolic rates, nutritional supply at the edge of the IVD, and mechanical loading [1–6]. Tissue degeneration alters the material properties of the IVD, such as an increase in elastic modulus and a decrease in water content, fixed charge density, permeability and solute diffusivity [6]. However, the effect of tissue degeneration on transport and metabolism of nutrients in the IVD under mechanical loading has not been elucidated. The objective of this study was to numerically investigate the distribution of glucose, oxygen and lactate in the degenerated IVD under static unconfined compression using the mechano-electrochemical mixture theory [7].

The objective of this paper is to investigate theoretically laminar falling bioconvection plumes in a deep chamber filled with a fluid saturated porous medium. A suspension of motile oxytactic bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis, which swim up the oxygen gradient, is considered. In a deep chamber, because of the limited diffusivity of oxygen, oxygen concentration is high only in a thin cell-rich upper boundary layer. Since bacteria are heavier than water, the cell-rich upper boundary layer becomes unstable and bioconvection plumes develop. The bioconvection plume carries oxygen and cells from this cell-rich upper boundary layer to the lower region of the chamber.

One of the key components inside fuel cell is the catalyst layer which has the most complex composition and transport phenomena. Physical parameters which often used in the simulation works regarding catalyst layer are mostly based on the empirical relations or derivation from experimental results. Transport parameters for species inside Nafion phase are critical for the catalyst layer modeling. This paper uses a nano-scale approach — classic molecular dynamic (CMD) simulation to evaluate the transport parameters inside Nafion phase of the catalyst layer. Two important transport parameters, oxygen diffusivity and water diffusivity, are evaluated at different conditions. The dependency of these two transport parameters on the various operation conditions such as different water content and temperature etc are also investigated. Simulation works at different scale (ex: CFD etc) can be easily improved by incorporating correlations obtained by the present work based on the CMD.

The hydrodynamics in flow systems is known to induce phenotypic changes associated with bacterial biofilms, including increased tolerance to antimicrobial agents and biocides. Results obtained in flow cells commonly used in biological and medical studies on the influence of flow on biofilm behavior and antimicrobial susceptibility are sometimes contradictory. It is thus hypothesized that discrepancies in the results may be related to the flow cell geometry. In this study, the shear stress distribution and substrate concentration were numerically simulated inside long rectangular and square tubes. The fluid was Newtonian and a uniform distribution of biofilms, which consume the substrate from the medium, was assumed on the walls. The consumption of oxygen by biofilms was assumed to follow the Monod kinetics. The effects of flow velocity, flow cell geometry, and substrate diffusivity on wall shear stress and substrate concentration distributions were investigated. Based on simulation results, differences observed in the morphology and response of biofilms can be directly related to hydrodynamic changes caused by the flow cell configuration.