Zinc-Air Battery: Oxygen Reduction Catalyst Kinetics

This simulator models the air cathode of a zinc-air battery during discharge: oxygen molecules diffuse from the ambient air side down to a bed of catalyst nanoparticles, where they are reduced either through the efficient 4-electron pathway (straight to hydroxide) or the lossy 2-electron peroxide pathway, depending on catalyst quality. A real Butler-Volmer/Tafel kinetics model converts catalyst quality, discharge current, oxygen partial pressure and temperature into activation overpotential, mass-transport (concentration) overpotential and a live cell voltage, while the 3D scene shows the molecular traffic and reaction outcome in real time.