Electrodes by Design - Microstructural Engineering of High Performance Electrodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Completed

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Fuel Cells, Stationary applications)
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Fuel Cells, Mobile applications)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Chemical Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Professor NP Brandon
Earth Science and Engineering
Imperial College London

Standard

EPSRC

01 May 2015

31 October 2018

42 months

£1,247,365

Energy

London

Energy : Energy

Professor NP Brandon, Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London

Professor A Atkinson, Materials, Imperial College London
Dr D Brett, Chemical Engineering, University College London
Dr J Darr, Chemistry, University College London
Dr K Li, Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London
Dr P Shearing, Chemical Engineering, University College London

Project Contact, Rolls-Royce PLC
Project Contact, Praxair Inc., USA
Project Contact, Ceres Power Limited
Project Contact, AFC Energy
Project Contact, Carl Zeiss Limited

The electrode, and the electrolyte-electrode interface, plays a critical role in the performance of all cells. In Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) the microstructures of the porous composite anode and cathode are particularly critical as they determine the electrochemical, electrical, mechanical and transport properties of the electrode, and of current distribution to/from the electrode/electrolyte interface. Current state of the art SOFC electrodes rely on a largely empirical understanding to establish the electrode microstructure, and its influence on key performance characteristics, including long term durability. But recent work by the proposers has established a new suite of tools and techniques that offer the prospect of moving towards a design led approach to manufacture of improved electrodes, based on our ability to image, model, simulate and fabricate new electrode structures with controlled properties. This proposal seeks to develop and demonstrate this, further improving and validating our analysis and modelling tools, using these design optimum structures, fabricating these using three novel processing techniques established by the proposers, and then measuring device performance to feedback into the design process

06/01/15