Electrochemical devices high-temperature fuel cells solid

The future prospects for polymer electrolytes look promising because it has been appreciated that they form an ideal medium for a wide range of electrochemical processes. Other than primary and secondary batteries, and high and low temperature fuel cells, practical applications for polymer electrolytes that are under consideration include electrochromic devices, modified electrode/sensors, solid-state reference electrode systems, supercapacitors, thermoelectric generators, high-vacuum electrochemistry and electrochemical switching. Device applications that have been the main driving force behind the development of polymer electrolytes are treated hereafter. 

His research interests are generally in high-temperature and solid-state chemistry of materials, including electrochemical devices (e.g., chemical sensors and fuel cells) and the chemical stability of materials (e.g., high-temperature oxidation). Dr. Fergus is an active member of the Electrochemical Society, the Metals, Minerals and Materials Society, the American Ceramics Society, the Materials Research Society, and the American Society for Engineering Education. 

Development of planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and other electrochemical devices, such as oxygen generators and sensors, makes it necessary to elaborate sealant materials for hermetization in high-temperature zone. The sealants should satisfy numerous requirements, including chemical stability, good adhesion and thermal expansion. 

LaGaOs-based compounds, doped with alcaline-earth cations and Mg show very high oxygen-ion conductivity and have a great importance for applications in high-temperature electrochemical devices, such as solid oxide fuel cells [1,2]. Perovskite-like EaGaOs lattice tolerates a substitution for... 

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Ceramic electrochemical device that converts various fuels and air into water, heat, and electric energy at high operating temperatures (600 to 1,000 degrees Celsius). 

The next entry is for Nafion, a proton-conducting fluorosulfonic acid ionomer material which in membrane form is widely used in PEM fuel-cell technology. The conductivity value quoted is for a fully hydrated membrane at an ambient temperature. Note that the conductivity is less than that of a comparable aqueous acid solution, for example 0.5 M sulfuric acid, but by a factor of only 3-4. Heavily hydrated Nafion membranes contain a lot of water, and consequently they behave a lot like aqueous acid solutions. The next three entries are for various gel and solid-polymer electrolytes containing lithium salts. All these material are membranes some contain some potentially volatile solvents, while others do not. Conductivities for these materials are low relative to true liquid solvents but they are still well within the range of usable values for electrochemical experiments. The semi-solid character of these materials, combined with their near-zero volatility (for solid-polymer electrolytes which do not contain volatile solvents), makes them suitable for use under high-vacuum conditions which makes them potentially useful for fabrication of electrochemical devices which are targeted for use in vacuum or under conditions which could otherwise result in solvent loss by evaporation. 

Solid Electrolytes Versus Fuel Cells Ceramic solid electrolytes are used in the production of electricity in high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), in which electrochemical combustion reactions occur. With around 60 % efficiency of generation (compared to 35 % in conventional methods), the SOFC have already become a useful secondary source of electric energy. Single cells are, as a mle, miniature devices (Fig. 1.11). In local power plants with power outputs of 1-10 MW... 

As one of the first applications in electrochemistry toward AP-XPS, solid oxide fuel cells (SOCs) have been chosen and tested successfully [77-80]. SOCs, as one of the solid state electrochemical devices for electrochemical power, operate under gaseous fuel condition to generate the electrical power at relatively high temperature condition (>700 °C). And, these operating conditions of SOCs, e.g., high temperature and elevated pressure, have been the hurdle for the in situ characterization of surface/interface properties of SOCs. 

Further, the first electrochemical devices based on oxide ion-conducting solid electrolytes, i.e., solid oxide fuel cells, water vapor electrolyzers, and oxygen concentrators, were also developed in the Institute of High-Temperature Electrochemistry. In 1978 the Laboratory of Physical and Chemical Properties of Solid Electrolytes has been renamed to the Solid Electrolytes Laboratory. Different cation-conductive solid electrolytes were investigated in the laboratory. Oxide semiconductor materials with fast ion and electron transport have been studied for different electrode applications in high-temperature electrochemical devices and MHD generators. 

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