Scalable metamaterial thermally sprayed catalyst coatings for nuclear reactor high temperature solid oxide steam electrolysis (METASIS)

用于核反应堆高温固体氧化物蒸汽电解的可扩展超材料热喷涂催化剂涂层（METASIS）

• 批准号: EP/W033178/1
• 负责人: Nadimul Faisal
• 金额: $ 30.69万
• 依托单位: Robert Gordon University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW033178%2F1
• 关键词: Scalable; metamaterial; thermally; sprayed; catalyst

The UK government has set an ambitious target of reaching net-Zero by 2050. Hydrogen has been considered to the energy vector to meet the target. However, a step change in technology is needed to produce enough green hydrogen to meet the target. One of the most promising new avenues for green hydrogen production is to combine the development of a highly active electrode layers for solid oxide steam electrolysis (SOSE) with the waste steam generated from nuclear power plant. This project will develop an advance solution for zero emission hydrogen production by designing, fabricating, and testing thermally sprayed (air plasma spray) novel metasurface coatings of electrodes (tubular cell design) for solid oxide steam electrolysis (SOSE). While metasurface design for electrode is new, the tubular cell design has received increased attention in recent years, and among the different geometric design of electrode, the tubular design offers several advantages (e.g., alleviates issues associated with high temperature sealing as seals can be placed outside of high temperature zone, can have high active surface area, can be robust against thermal cycling, etc). To achieve this, we need to benchmark the new design of electrolyser for high temperature (e.g., 700-900 C) steam deployment applications. The design will include structural (finite element analysis) and computational fluid dynamics analysis of the cell and develop understanding of its operational configurations with focus on structural and thermo-mechanical loads, incidental loads, and durability, including responses to the various loads (e.g., pressure fluctuations, temperature, and mechanical stresses). The material plays an important part in electrolysis, and therefore different electrode/electrolyte materials will be considered while manufacturing screen printing/spin coating method along with appropriate sintering processes. Following which, the cell (tubular samples as test coupon electrodes) will be fabricated using a combination of electrolyte. cathode, and anode from the materials list of choice using thermal spray (air plasma spray or APS) technique with cathode as metasurface at an industrial facility. We will then make solid oxide steam electrolyser prototype using the best design and materials choices. We will assess the overall viability of a modular design (a small container) with single tubular cell assembly. The single tubular assembly (or the electrolyser) will be tested at temperature as high as 900 C and will establish correlation between metasurface design and materials for optimum efficiency, including establishing mechanism of redox/transport processes and electro-chemical reactions. And finally, we will demonstrate the effect of materials, cell design and operational parameters on efficiency. Developing electrolyser cells with enhanced hydrogen production and their scalable manufacturing can play an important role in enabling not only eco-friendly development but also cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable opportunities. This project has the potential to advance technology to produce green hydrogen and thus we will exploit the outcomes through a spin-out company or licensing to commercialise the product.

英国政府制定了一个雄心勃勃的目标，即到2050年实现净零。氢气被认为是达到目标的能量矢量。然而，需要在技术上进行一步的改变，才能生产出足够的绿色氢气来实现目标。将固体氧化物水蒸气电解(SOSE)的高活性电极层与核电站产生的废气相结合，是绿色制氢最有前途的新途径之一。该项目将通过设计、制造和测试用于固体氧化物蒸汽电解(SOSE)的热喷涂(空气等离子喷涂)新型电极亚表面涂层(管式电池设计)，为零排放氢气生产开发先进的解决方案。虽然电极的金属表面设计是新的，但管状电池的设计近年来受到了越来越多的关注，在不同的电极几何设计中，管状设计具有几个优点(例如，缓解了与高温密封相关的问题，因为密封件可以放置在高温区之外，具有高活性表面积，可以抗热循环等)。为了实现这一目标，我们需要对用于高温(例如700-900℃)蒸汽部署应用的新设计的电解槽进行基准测试。设计将包括对电池的结构(有限元分析)和计算流体动力学分析，并了解其操作配置，重点是结构和热机械载荷、附带载荷和耐久性，包括对各种载荷(例如，压力波动、温度和机械应力)的响应。这种材料在电解过程中起着重要的作用，因此在制作丝网印刷/旋涂方法和合适的烧结工艺时，需要考虑不同的电极/电解液材料。然后，电池(作为试片电极的管状样品)将使用电解液的组合来制造。在工业设施中使用热喷涂(空气等离子喷涂或APS)技术，以阴极作为金属表面，从材料列表中选择阴极和阳极。然后我们将使用最佳的设计和材料选择制作固体氧化物蒸汽电解槽的样机。我们将评估带有单个管状细胞组件的模块化设计(小容器)的总体可行性。单管组件(或电解槽)将在高达900℃的温度下进行测试，并将在金属表面设计和材料之间建立关联，以实现最佳效率，包括建立氧化还原/传输过程和电化学反应的机制。最后，我们将演示材料、电池设计和操作参数对效率的影响。发展产氢能力更强的电解槽及其规模化制造，不仅可以实现生态友好型发展，而且可以提供成本效益高、可靠和可持续的机会。这个项目有可能推进生产绿色氢气的技术，因此我们将通过衍生公司或许可将产品商业化来利用结果。