Mayu Muramatsu

Recent Achievements of NEDO Durability Project with an Emphasis on Correlation Between Cathode Overpotential and Ohmic Loss

Long-term performance testes by CRIEPI (Central Research Institute for Electric Power Industry) on six industrial stacks have revealed an interesting correlation between cathode polarization loss and ohmic loss. To make clear the physicochemical meaning of this correlation, detailed analyses were made on the conductivity degradation of YSZ electrolyte in button cells and then on the ohmic losses in the industrial cells in terms of time constants which are determined from speed of the tetragonal transformation through the Y diffusion from the cubic phase to the tetragonal phase. In some cases, shorter time constants (faster degradations) were detected than those expected from the two-time-constant (with and without NiO reduction effects) model, suggesting that additional ohmic losses after subtracting the contribution from the tetragonal transformation must be caused from other sources such as cathode-degradation inducing effects. Main cathode degradations can be ascribed to sulfur poisoning due to contamination in air in the CRIEPI test site. An important feature was extracted as this cathode degradations became more severe when the gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) interlayers were fabricated into dense film. Plausible mechanisms for cathode degradations were proposed based on the Sr/Co depletion on surface of lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSFC) in the active area. Peculiar cathode degradations found in stacks are interpreted in term of changes in surface concentration by reactions with sulfur oxide, electrochemical side reactions for water vapor emission or Sr volatilization, and diffusion of Sr/Co from inside LSCF.

Numerical simulations of non-stationary distributions of electrochemical potentials in SOFC

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a simulation method to calculate non-stationary distributions of the chemical potential of oxygen in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) under operation. Design/methodology/approach The initial-boundary value problem was appropriately formulated and the appropriate boundary conditions were implemented so that the problem of non-stationary behavior of SOFC can be solved in accordance with actual operational and typical experimental conditions. The dependencies of the material properties on the temperature and partial pressure of oxygen were also elaborately introduced to realize actual material responses. The capability of the proposed simulation method was demonstrated under arbitrary operating conditions. Findings The steady state calculated with the open circuit voltage condition was conformable with the analytical solution. In addition, the transient states of the spatial distributions of potentials and currents under the voltage- and current-controlled conditions were successfully differentiated, even though they eventually became the same steady state. Furthermore, the effects of dense materials assumed for interconnects and current collectors were found to not be influential. It is thus safe to conclude that the proposed method enables us to simulate any type of transient simulations regardless of controlling conditions. Practical implications Although only uniaxial models were tested in the numerical examples in this paper, the proposed method is applicable for arbitrary shapes of SOFC cells. Originality/value The value of this paper is that adequate numerical simulations by the proposed method properly captured the electrochemical transient transport phenomena in SOFC under various operational conditions, and that the applicability was confirmed by some numerical examples.

A Simulation of Ferroelastic Phase Formation by Using Phase Field Model

In order to incorporate the mechanical behavior of ferroelastic phase into the stress analysis of solid oxide fuel cell in consideration of elastic, creep, thermal and reduction strains, we propose a mathematical model to predict the formation of ferroelastic phases in crystal grains of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ. The phase field model equipped with the elastic energy is introduced to realize the morphology formation of ferroelastic phases in a crystal grain. By the use of the developed mathematical model, some numerical examples are performed to reproduce the deformation-induced nucleation and growth of ferroelastic phases of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ.