A rapid analytical assessment tool for three dimensional electrode microstructural networks with geometric sensitivity

An analytical approach for solid oxide cell electrode geometric design

“…Across these scales variations in local reactant distributions can contribute to significant losses. At the microstructural scale, charge transport holds strong influence [10,11,13,14], while variation in gas concentration may occur [14]. At the device scale, geometry contributes to both ohmic [18,19,22] and concentration losses [17,21].…”

“…This task proves difficult when translating microstructural or component level details to a cell or stack level. Finite element analysis (FEA) and models based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) can capture details of mass and charge transport within the microstructure [11,14e16,23], but these approaches entail significant requirements for memory [11], computational time [11,14], and due diligence in mesh generation [23]. Detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models also require large numbers of computational cells and related degrees of freedom to accurately capture multi-dimensional variations throughout the SOFC component layers [24].…”

“…Nelson et al have demonstrated similar effects of sintering and particle contact geometry on microstructural charge transport using electrochemical fin theory [10,11,46]. This analytical approach was developed using a construct similar to the charge transport model formulated by Tanner et al [44], expanding their formulation to the analysis of variable cross-section particles and microstructural networks within the ion conducting phase of solid oxide cell electrodes.…”

“…The electrochemical fin method was initially developed for phenomenological structures based on particles with truncated conical shapes, and demonstrated the capability to account for the effects of particle contact geometry on polarization resistance [10]. This analytical approach has been extended to a diverse set of shapes for phenomenological structures [47] and to the analysis of three-dimensional microstructural data obtained using x-ray nanotomography [11]. These microstructural charge transport models demonstrate substantial reductions in both memory and computational time requirements when compared to FEA and LBM models [11].…”

“…This analytical approach has been extended to a diverse set of shapes for phenomenological structures [47] and to the analysis of three-dimensional microstructural data obtained using x-ray nanotomography [11]. These microstructural charge transport models demonstrate substantial reductions in both memory and computational time requirements when compared to FEA and LBM models [11]. This simplified modeling approach captures experimentally observed polarization resistance behavior and provides a means for design and optimization of microstructure on standard desktop workstations.…”