Microstructure Evolution in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stack Quantified with Interfacial Free Energy

Tomasz A. Prokop, Grzegorz Brus and Janusz S. Szmyd
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Tomasz A. Prokop: Department of Fundamental Research in Energy Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
Grzegorz Brus: Department of Fundamental Research in Energy Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
Janusz S. Szmyd: Department of Fundamental Research in Energy Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Krakow, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: Degradation of electrode microstructure is one of the key factors affecting long term performance of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell systems. Evolution of a multiphase system can be described quantitatively by the change in its interfacial energy. In this paper, we discuss free energy of a microstructure to showcase the anisotropy of its evolution during a long-term performance experiment involving an SOFC stack. Ginzburg Landau type functional is used to compute the free energy, using diffuse phase distributions based on Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy images of samples taken from nine different sites within the stack. It is shown that the rate of microstructure evolution differs depending on the position within the stack, similar to phase anisotropy. However, the computed spatial relation does not correlate with the observed distribution of temperature.

Keywords: solid oxide fuel cell; microstructure; phase field model; degradation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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