On the tortuosity factor of solid phase in solid oxide fuel cell electrodes

Abstract

Tortuosity factor τ of the solid phase is an important parameter for the accurate prediction of SOFC electrode conductivity. This work investigates the effect of computational domain on τ. The results show that a computational domain with cross section area of 15d*15d (d: particle diameter) is necessary for the calculation of τ when 15% deviation is allowed. The result also validates that the anisotropic property of τ shown in the previous literatures is caused by the insufficient sample size. This study builds a framework for the further study of τ.

3D reconstruction size effect on the quantification of solid oxide fuel cell nickel–yttria-stabilized-zirconia anode microstructural information using scanning electron microscopy-focused ion beam technique

“…7. An allowed deviation of 15 % is chosen for all the parameters in this study to be defined as stable status [14]. It is seen from Fig.…”

“…Several researchers have investigated the influence of 3D reconstruction size on the statistic quantitative information of composite cermet microstructure [12][13][14][15]. The maximum size of 3D reconstruction based on FIB-SEM technique was limited by SEM image drifting and shadow effects which is quite difficult to be solved in the current stage.…”

Effective Conductivity of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Electrodes

“…In this work, the voxel length (L vox ) in computational domain is unfixed while the particle radius (r) is set as 10 times of the voxel length (i.e., r=10L vox ) to ensure the model accuracy (7). Therefore, by expanding the particles along the particle radius by a factor of 1.1 (1 L vox ), contact angles of around 34 o can be generated between neighboring electrode particles (13). Different contact angles can be formed by dilating electrode particles with different factors.…”

Simulation-based microstructural optimization of solid oxide fuel cell for low temperature operation

“…Costamagna et al [36] developed a microscopic model of an electrode formed by nearly spherical electronic and ionic conducting particles (i.e., randomly packed sphere theory). This modeling approach had also been used in recent studies [37,38]. The results showed that volumetric composition and particle size strongly influence power output.…”