Energy Materials for Sustainable Development: Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers
Sponsored by: ACerS Energy Materials and Systems Division
Program Organizers: Krista Carlson, University of Nevada, Reno; Armin Feldhoff, Leibniz University Hannover; Kyle Brinkman, Clemson University; Eva Hemmer, University of Ottawa; Nikola Kanas, BioSense Institute; Kjell Wiik, Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Lei Zuo, Virgina Tech; Joshua Tong, Clemson University ; Danielle Benetti, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique; Katherine Develos-Bagarinao, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; Soumi Chatterjee, Aditya Birla Science & Technology Company, Ltd
Tuesday 8:00 AM
October 11, 2022
Room: 413
Location: David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Session Chair: Armin Feldhoff, Leibniz University Hannover; Yu Zhong, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Brigita Rožič, Jožef Stefan Institute
8:00 AM Invited
Experimental and Computational Investigations of the Multiple Impurities Effects on the SOFC Cathode Materials: Rui Wang1; Lucas Parent2; Srikanth Gopalan3; Yu Zhong1; 1Worcester Polytechnic Institute; 2University of Connecticut; 3Boston University
To study the detrimental phases under the single or multiple gas impurities to the long-term degradation in the SOFC cathode systems, three common cathode materials, (La0.8Sr0.2)0.95MnO3 (LSM), (La0.6Sr0.4)0.95(Co0.2Fe0.8)O3 (LSCF), and La2NiO4 (LNO), were prepared, sintered, and annealed at 800, 900 and 1000 ℃ in the Sulfur, Chromium and/or water vapor-containing atmospheres, respectively. Through X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as well as the CALPHAD (Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry) methodology, the secondary phases, especially the detrimental ones, under different conditions (temperatures and the partial pressure of oxygen and impurities) were predicted and experimentally verified correspondingly, which shows considerable agreements among one another. Furthermore, sulfur poisoning results indicate that the accelerated tests might have distinct degradation mechanisms in terms of the real conditions. More importantly, comprehensive comparisons among the three candidates under different impurity-containing conditions were also made to recommend promising cathode materials.
8:20 AM Invited
Fabrication Strategies for Lightweight and High-performance Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: Dhruba Panthi1; Yanhai Du1; 1Kent State University
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) were traditionally considered suitable only for stationary applications owing to their high operating temperatures and large thermal mass. However, with the successful reduction of SOFC operating temperatures to as low as 500 °C and development of innovative cell and stack designs, recently there has been a growing interest in SOFCs for portable and transport applications, including cars and unattended aerial vehicles (UAVs). For a widespread adoption of SOFC technology in such applications, further reductions in the weight and volume of SOFC stacks and improvement in their lifetime and reliability are imperative. This presentation will provide an overview of various efforts made in this direction with an emphasis on fabrication strategies for tubular SOFCs. Process optimization and cost-effective approaches for large-scale manufacturing will be considered. We will also discuss the material choices and structural designs for high power density, thermal cycling, and durability of SOFC systems.
8:40 AM Invited
Machine Learning Methods for Predicting Microstructural Changes in Solid Oxide Cell Electrodes: Anna Sciazko1; Rena Yamagishi1; Yosuke Komatsu1; Zhufeng Ouyang1; Junya Ohnishi1; Katsuhiko Nishimura1; Naoki Shikazono1; 1The University of Tokyo
Solid oxide cells (SOCs) are promising electrochemical devices for the future energy system due to their high energy conversion efficiency and the ability to handle a variety of fuels. Materials choice and microstructure of multi-phase porous electrodes determine the SOCs electrochemical performance. The recent research underlines the importance of the 3D structural design of the electrodes and necessity for introducing graded micro- and nanostructures. However, obtaining an extensive experimental data of various designs is challenging, particularly for the long-time stability experiments. In this study, a computational scheme using machine learning methods is proposed to enhance the understanding of the relationship between SOCs’ microstructure and degradation. In particular, the methods for building the artificial models of complex 3D microstructures are proposed based on the generative adversarial networks. Furthermore, the microstructure evolution prediction from the limited training data is attempted by the unsupervised image-to-image translation network with physical constraints.
9:00 AM
Effect of Infiltrates on Cr-poisoning in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Using Microstructurally Resolved HPC Simulations of Electrochemistry: Hokon Kim1; Jerry Mason2; William Epting2; Harry Abernathy2; Gregory Hackett2; Anthony Rollett1; Paul Salvador1; 1Carnegie Mellon University; 2National Energy Technology Laboratory
Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been recognized as one of promising energy conversion devices. However, the durability of SOFC at an operating condition is one of major huddles for commercialization. Specifically, volatile Cr species can be generated from metallic components in SOFC, such as interconnects and gas supply tubes. These Cr species can poison and react at the active sites of the cathode, causing a rapid degradation of cell performance. Also, many studies have been shown that the improvement of electrochemical performance can be achieved by infiltration and it can reduce long-term degradation. Our research group developed an open-source simulation code, ERMINE, based on a finite element framework. In ERMINE, species transport, the oxidation reduction reaction (ORR), and Cr poisoning are simulated based on given operational conditions. Thus, the effect of infiltrates on Cr-poisoning in SOFC cathode will be presented through microstructurally resolved HPC simulations of electrochemistry.
9:20 AM
Non-precious Metal Catalysts with Core@shell Structure for AEM Electrolyzers: Manjodh Kaur1; James McKone1; 1University of Pittsburgh
Alkaline anion exchange membrane electrolyzers are promising for cost-effective and carbon-neutral hydrogen production. In this context, our focus is on non-precious metal catalysts, Ni–Mo alloys and Ni–Fe alloys for hydrogen and oxygen evolution, respectively. For Ni–Mo catalysts, in situ transmission electron microscopy analysis has clarified the presence of Ni-rich core surrounded by Mo-rich oxide shell. We found that carbon-supported catalysts provide pathways for electron conduction to mitigate the resistivity due to the presence of the oxide shells. The total cell potential required for water electrolysis was only 50–70 mV higher with a Ni–Mo/C cathode catalyst compared to Pt–Ru/C over the range of current densities from 0.2 to 2 A/cm2. Additional ongoing work to understand catalyst stability and applications in practical anion exchange membrane electrolyzers will be discussed.
9:40 AM
Computational Study of Iron/Nitrogen Doped Carbon Electrocatalysts for Sustainable Energy Technology: Boyang Li1; Guofeng Wang1; 1University of Pittsburgh
Carbon materials doped with iron (Fe) and nitrogen (N) have recently emerged as novel, efficient electrocatalysts, alternative to precious metals, for promoting oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) occurring at the cathode of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Here, we employed the first-principles density functional theory calculation method to predict the ORR activity and stability on two types of FeN4 moieties substitutionally embedded into a graphene layer. On each FeN4 active site, we calculated the adsorption energies of all the relevant chemical species, including O2, O, OH, OOH, and H2O, the activation energies for O-O bond scission reaction involved in ORR, and free energy change for the demetallation process of Fe. Our high-throughput computation found that the S1 type FeN4 site was more active than the S2 type FeN4 site to promote ORR, whereas the S2 type FeN4 site was more stable than the S1 type FeN4 site during ORR.
10:00 AM Break
10:20 AM Invited
Detection of Proton Incorporation and Diffusion in Electrolyte Materials for SOFCs: Takuya Yamaguchi1; Tomohiro Ishiyama1; Haruo Kishimoto1; Katherine Develos-Bagarinao1; Katsuhiko Yamaji1; 1National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Hydrogen sometimes has a serious effect on the material properties, such as hydrogen embrittlement of metals and hydrogen passivation of semiconductors. Therefore, understanding its behavior is crucial to improve the performance of various devices. In solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), although the major carriers in electrolytes are oxide ions, it has been suggested that hydrogen is also incorporated into electrolytes from the atmospheric water vapor. The incorporated hydrogen exists as protons bound to lattice oxygen atoms and it possibly affect SOFC performance (e.g. cathode degradation), so understanding its behavior is also important for SOFCs. Recently, using Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), we have proposed the technique to quantitatively measure low concentration of protons. Applying the proposed technique to typical electrolyte materials, YSZ and GDC, the protons are found to be incorporated mainly into the grain boundaries. This finding is also supported by NanoSIMS imaging of proton distribution.
10:40 AM
Metal Composite Nano-Catalyst Enhanced Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anodes for Increased Stability within Hydrocarbon Containing Fuels: Saad Waseem1; Edward Sabolsky1; Katarzyna Sabolsky1; Richard Hart1; Seunghyuck Hong1; 1West Virginia University
The objective of this work was to investigate methods to increase the performance and stability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with Ni-based anodes operating on hydrocarbon reformate fuels. Although it is expected that the operation of a fuel reformer upstream of the SOFC stack would produce the proper syngas composition, there is a probability that low levels of hydrocarbons may find their way to the SOFC. The presentation will demonstrate strategies for modifying Ni-based anodes with metal composite nano-catalysts to reduce anode degradation and alleviate the negative effects of the coking under hydrocarbon impurities. A liquid solution infiltration method (using various catechol surfactants) was developed and optimized which permitted the uniform deposition of multi-phase nano-catalysts throughout the porous anode. The impregnated SOFCs were evaluated using current-voltage-power (I-V-P) measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy while operating under varying reformate fuel compositions. Post-mortem microstructure and chemistry characterizations were used in analysis.
11:00 AM
Probing BaCo0.4Fe0.4Zr0.2-XYXO3-δ Triple-Conductors as Cathode Materials for Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells: Jack Duffy1; Yuqing Meng2; Harry Abernathy3; Kyle Brinkman1; 1National Energy Technology Laboratory, Clemson University; 2Idaho National Laboratory, Clemson University; 3National Energy Technology Laboratory
Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) are a promising technology to efficiently convert fuel into energy. However, sluggish kinetics at intermediate temperatures necessitates improved cathode materials for future commercialization. In this work, BaCo0.4Fe0.4Zr0.2-XYXO3-δ (BCFZYX) triple-conducting materials are characterized for their bulk material properties. Oxygen permeation and hydrogen permeation are utilized to probe the bulk ionic conductivity of the compositional range. DC four-point probe with electrical conductivity relaxation revealed sufficient electrical conductivity and excellent surface exchange kinetics. With increasing yttrium content, there is a general tradeoff between the materials’ bulk conductivity with their surface reaction kinetics. These measurements revealed the novel material BaCo0.4Fe0.4Y0.2O3-δ (BCFY), which is mixed with BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ (BCZYYb) to form a novel composite cathode. The BCFY-BCZYYb cathode is synthesized in 4:1, 2:1, and 1:1 ratios to achieve high performance PCFC composite cathodes. These results highlight the tunability of triple ionic-electronic conductors for both single-phase and composite cathode development.