Non-destructive diagnosis of solid oxide fuel cell performance and degradation

固体氧化物燃料电池是一种高效的能量转换装置，可以从各种容易获得的燃料中产生电力，不会产生烟雾形成的空气污染排放物，并且温室气体排放量非常低。 烟雾的减少将导致哮喘等呼吸道疾病的发生率和相应的医疗保健费用下降，这些疾病已被证明是由空气污染引起的。 然而，尽管有这些潜在的环境和健康益处，但燃料电池由于可靠性和耐久性不足而在其使用中仍然受到限制。 拟议的研究计划旨在通过提高对性能下降原因的理解来提高固体氧化物燃料电池的寿命和性能。 该研究计划调查新技术，以确定固体氧化物燃料电池性能下降的原因。 目前存在燃料电池中的性能损失的许多原因，这些原因在涉及在给定操作电压下监测作为时间的函数的电流密度的标准退化研究中难以彼此区分。 拟议的研究计划采用了一种新的数值模拟和实验研究的结合，以非侵入性地诊断性能损失的原因。 这种诊断是基于对每种退化模式的各种电化学特征的识别，目的是利用所获得的知识来修改燃料电池的材料和设计，以提高其可靠性和耐用性。 固体氧化物燃料电池的寿命更长，性能更高，这反过来又会导致其更广泛的使用，从而使加拿大社会能够从其环境和健康优势中获得更大的利益。

Solid oxide fuel cells are highly efficient energy conversion devices that produce electricity from a variety of readily available fuels with no smog-forming air pollution emissions and very low emissions of greenhouse gases. Reductions in smog would lead to a decrease in the occurrence and corresponding health care costs of respiratory diseases such as asthma, which have been demonstrated to be caused by air pollution. However, despite these potential environmental and health benefits, fuel cells remain limited in their use by insufficient reliability and durability. The proposed research program seeks to improve the lifetime and performance of solid oxide fuel cells by achieving an improved understanding of the causes of performance degradation. The research program investigates new techniques to identify the causes of performance degradation in solid oxide fuel cells. There are currently numerous causes of performance loss in fuel cells, which are difficult to distinguish from each other in standard degradation studies involving the monitoring of current density as a function of time at a given operating voltage. The proposed research program utilizes a novel combination of numerical modeling and experimental studies to non-invasively diagnose the causes of performance loss. This diagnosis is based on the identification of the various electrochemical signatures of each degradation mode, with the goal of using the knowledge gained to modify the materials and design of fuel cells in order to improve their reliability and durability. Resulting longer lifetimes and higher performances of solid oxide fuel cells will in turn lead to their more widespread use, thereby allowing Canadian society to enjoy greater benefits from their environmental and health advantages.