Solid oxide fuel cells structure

The tape-casting method makes possible the fabrication of films in the region of several hundred micrometers thick. The mechanical strength allows the use of such a solid electrolyte as the structural element for devices such as the high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell in which zirconia-based solid electrolytes are employed both as electrolyte and as mechanical separator of the electrodes. 

These effects can all be enhanced if the point defects interact to form defect clusters or similar structures, as in Fej xO above or U02, (Section 4.4). Such clusters can suppress phase changes at low temperatures. Under circumstances in which the clusters dissociate, such as those found in solid oxide fuel cells, the volume change can be considerable, leading to failure of the component. 

The Brouwer diagram approach can be illustrated with reference to the perovskite structure oxide system BaYbvPr VC>3, which has been explored as a potential cathode material for use in solid oxide fuel cells. The parent phase... 

The use of this approach can be illustrated by the perovskite structure proton conductor BaYo.2Zro.gO3 g- This material has been investigated for possible use in solid oxide fuel cells, hydrogen sensors and pumps, and as catalysts. It is similar to the BaPr03 oxide described above. The parent phase is Ba2+Zr4+03, and doping with... 

During the course of the last century, it was realized that many properties of solids are controlled not so much by the chemical composition or the chemical bonds linking the constituent atoms in the crystal but by faults or defects in the structure. Over the course of time the subject has, if anything, increased in importance. Indeed, there is no aspect of the physics and chemistry of solids that is not decisively influenced by the defects that occur in the material under consideration. The whole of the modem silicon-based computer industry is founded upon the introduction of precise amounts of specific impurities into extremely pure crystals. Solid-state lasers function because of the activity of impurity atoms. Battery science, solid oxide fuel cells, hydrogen storage, displays, all rest upon an understanding of defects in the solid matrix. 

Huang W and Gopalan S. Bi-layer structures as solid oxide fuel cell interconnections. J. Power Sources 2006 154 180-183. 

Zhang X, Robertson M, Deces-Petit C, Xie Y, Hui R, Qu W et al. Solid oxide fuel cells with bi-layered electrolyte structure. J. Power Sources 2008 175 800-805. 

Nagata A and Okayama H. Characterization of solid oxide fuel cell device having a three-layer film structure grown by RF magnetron sputtering. Vacuum 2002 66 523-529. 

Fig. 1.6 Illustration of a planar-stack, solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC), where an membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) is sandwiched between an interconnect structure that forms fuel and air channels. There is homogeneous chemical reaction within the flow channels, as well as heterogeneous cehmistry at the channel walls. There are also electrochemical reactions at the electrode interfaces of the channels. A counter-flow situation is illustrated here, but co-flow and cross-flow configurations are also common. Channel cross section dimensions are typically on the order of a millimeter.

A single-chamber solid oxide fuel cell (SC-SOFC), which operates using a mixture of fuel and oxidant gases, provides several advantages over the conventional double-chamber SOFC, such as simplified cell structure with no sealing required and direct use of hydrocarbon fuel [1, 2], The oxygen activity at the electrodes of the SC-SOFC is not fixed and one electrode (anode) has a higher electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of the fuel than the other (cathode). Oxidation reactions of a hydrocarbon fuel can... 

Equally important are structural changes on the micrometer and the millimeter length scales, and eventually real reactors on a centimeter or even meter scale. In the first cases, full-field XAS is a well-matched method for in situ monitoring [6, 13, 25], An illustrative example is the catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) of methane to synthesis gas, a relevant reaction in the future s solid-oxide fuel cells. In Figure 4.3.4, it was... 

The redox properties of ceria-zirconia mixed oxides are interesting, because these materials find applications as electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cells, supports for catalysts for H2 production, and components in three-way automobile exhaust conversion catalysts. The group of Kaspar and Fornasiero (Montini et al., 2004, 2005) used TPR/TPO-Raman spectroscopy to identify the structural features of more easily reducible zirconia-ceria oxides and the best method for their preparation by suitable treatments. TPR/TPO experiments and Raman spectra recorded during redox cycles demonstrated that a pyrochlore-type cation ordering in Ce2Zr2Og facilitates low temperature reduction. 

Jiang, S.P., A review of wet impregnation an alternative method for the fabrication of high performance and nano-structured electrodes of solid oxide fuel cells. Materials Science and Engineering A Structural Materials Properties Microstructure and Processing, 2006, 418, 199-210. 

Bismuth(ni) oxide is the most important industrial compound of Bi and is found naturally as the mineral bismite. Bismuth(III) oxide has attracted interest as optical coatings, metal-insulator semiconductor capacitors, microwave integrated circuits and as material for solid oxide fuel cells . At room temperature, monoclinic o -Bi203 is the stable form and possesses a polymeric layer structure. 

Pale yellow cerium dioxide (ceria, ceric oxide) has the fluorite structure and is used in catalysis" ", solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC)", thin film optical waveguides" , reversible oxygen storage materials for automobile catalysts" and for doping copper oxide superconductors". The diverse cerium enolate precursors and deposition methods used in the formation of cerium oxide thin films are summarized in Table 6, whereby the most common precursor for ceria is Ce(thd)4. 

Figure 2 Basic structure of a solid oxide fuel cell...

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