Chaos during H_2/CO Electroxidation: trends and usefulness

摘要

Kinetic oscillations are extensively reported in fuel cells fed with CO-containing hydrogen. Relaxation oscillations are fully explained by the electrochemical mechanism, but chaotic oscillations are not. Regardless the exact mechanism description, we are able to analyze the phenomenology of the experimental findings. Herein, chaos is reported to have a special trend, the predictability at short range, i.e. it is possible to predict how long will be the period of the next cycle given the spike (amplitude) of the previous cycle. Furthermore, other useful information could be obtained. Different chaotic states can be compared since the predictability at short range is linked to the CO_2 production amount, as experiments with on-line mass spectrometry point out.