A novel approach to study the structure versus performance relationship of SOFC electrodes

The aim of this work is to develop a new rigorous model to study the structure performance relationship of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes. A new two-dimensional, geometrical model which captures the inhomogeneous nature of the location of electrochemical reactions based on random packing of electronic and ionic conducting particles has been developed. The results show that the concentration of oxygen inside the cathode in the 2D model is not only a function of the electrode depth but also changes along the width of the electrode. Furthermore the effect of composition of the electrode on the length of active three-phase boundary (TBP) and total polarization resistance has been demonstrated. A parametric study of the effect of the conductivity of ionic conductor and diffusion coefficient on the performance of the electrode has been given.