Operation of an Oxygen Gas Diffusion Electrode in a Hybride Fuel Cell

The paper is devoted to the operation of a hybride fuel cell (i.e. in the course of simultaneous electrosynthesis of a chemical product), in particular, the polarization characteristic of an oxygen electrode and the ratio of the produced electric energy to the amount of the produced target product. An equation for the dependence of the polarization of an oxygen gas diffusion hydrophobized electrode of a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell on the concentration of the produced electroactive soluble product H₂O₂ in an inner-kinetic regime is suggested. It is established that the polarization variation does not depend on its initial magnitude but does depend on the concentration of the target product and the ratio between currents of the side and target reactions. The ratio of the produced electric energy to the amount of the produced target product is found to depend on the concentration of the produced target product, the electrode polarization, and the ratio between exchange currents of the side and target reactions.