This article provides a perspective review of low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells research and development.

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We utilized quinone redox chemistry to design a new RM for fast and stable cycling of Li-S batteries. Through rational tuning of the redox potential, stability, and solubility of quinones by molecular engineering, we successfully demonstrated that the quinone redox can facilitate the Li 2 S oxidation and the maintained Li 2 S original morphology. The introduction of AQT as an RM is a simple and effective approach to significantly enhance multiple aspects of sulfur redox chemistry under challenging conditions.

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The Marine Science Laboratory at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory evaluated the impact of biofouling on the performance or uranium adsorbents. A surface-modified polyethylene adsorbent fiber provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, AF adsorbent, was tested in either the presence or absence of light to simulate deployment in shallow or deep marine environments. Samples of the adsorbent fiber were exposed to seawater as loose fibers packed with glass beads in columns and as >10-cm-long braids of fiber placed in a flume that provided a continuous flow representative of natural ocean currents. Exposure tests (42 days) in column and flume settings showed that biofouling resulted in decreased uranium uptake by the adsorbent fiber. Uranium uptake was reduced by up to 30%, in the presence of simulated sunlight, which also increased biomass accumulation and altered the microbial community composition on the fibers. These results suggest that deployment below the photic zone would mitigate the effects of biofouling, resulting in greater yields of uranium extracted from seawater.

Reduction-stable mixed ionic and electronic conductors such as Sr(Ti,Fe)O 3-δ (STF) are promising materials for application in anodes of solid oxide fuel cells. The defect chemistry of STF and its properties as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode have been studied thoroughly, while mechanistic investigations of its electrochemical properties as SOFC anode material are still scarce. In this study, thin film model electrodes of STF with 30% and 70% Fe content were investigated in H 2 +H 2 O atmosphere by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Lithographically patterned thin film Pt current collectors were applied on top or beneath the STF thin films to compensate for the low electronic conductivity under reducing conditions. Oxygen exchange resistances, electronic and ionic conductivities and chemical capacitances were quantified and discussed in a defect chemical model. Increasing Fe content increases the electro-catalytic activity of the STF surface as well as the electronic and ionic conductivity. Current collectors on top also increase the electrochemical activity due to a highly active Pt-atmosphere-STF triple phase boundary. Furthermore, the electrochemical activity depends decisively on the H 2 :H 2 O mixing ratio and the polarization. Acceptor-doped mixed ionic and electronic conductors are a promising class of materials for application in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes and they are widely investigated as SOFC cathodes due to their low polarization resistance.1-3 Some of these materials are chemically stable and mixed conducting also in humidified hydrogen atmosphere, 4 which makes them applicable in SOFC anodes. Several mixed conductors, such as acceptor doped (La,Sr)(Cr,Mn)O 3 , [5][6][7][8] donor-doped SrTiO 3 9,10 and Sr(Ti,Fe)O 3-δ -Ce 0.9 Gd 0.1 O 2-δ (STF-GDC) composites 11 were investigated in form of porous SOFC anodes. Most of these studies revealed moderately low polarization resistances. In STF-GDC composites, for example, the anode polarization resistance was <0.2 cm 2 at 800• C, and the overall performance increased with increasing Fe content. However, the usually ill-defined geometry of porous electrodes makes the analysis of specific materials parameters such as electronic and ionic conductivity or oxygen exchange activity very challenging.Thin film model electrodes have well defined and controllable geometry and comparatively simple pathways of electron and oxygen ion migration. This strongly facilitates identification of reaction pathways and quantification of the oxygen exchange activity of the material's surface. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Mechanistic studies using thin film model electrodes have so far been performed mainly in oxidizing atmosphere. Thorough studies of the mechanisms of electrochemical oxygen exchange in reducing atmospheres are still largely missing, not only for STF, but for most reduction stable mixed conductors, except for (Gd or Sm) doped ceria [19][20][21][22][23][24] and a study on (La,Sr)FeO 3-δ. 25 The typically low electronic conductivity of accep...

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