GOALI: Simple Low Cost Methods for Making Conductive Interfacial Coatings for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

燃料电池是一种很有前途的技术，用于以清洁和环境可持续的方式将储存在燃料如氢和甲醇中的化学能转化为有用的电能。燃料电池可用于为许多设备提供动力，从便携式电子产品到电动汽车。一种类型的燃料电池，称为固体氧化物燃料电池或SOFC，特别适用于为运输应用如电动汽车提供动力。今天，可以制造具有优异性能的固体氧化物燃料电池，但是这些燃料电池的电功率输出和效率随着时间的推移而迅速下降。该奖项支持开发新材料和新制造技术，以克服导致SOFC燃料电池性能下降的问题之一。特别地，故障经常发生在电线连接到燃料电池的发生化学反应以产生电流的部分的点。在这项工作中，将开发一种新的方法和材料，使这种电连接到燃料电池，这将大大增加SOFC燃料电池的工作寿命。该项目将作为大学和工业合作伙伴之间的合作进行，这将为这项工作中取得的科学进步的商业应用提供一条途径。该项目的科学和社会广泛影响将源于燃料电池在工业和社会中用于清洁发电的广泛应用。该奖项将支持本科生和研究生在综合大学-行业团队环境中的培训和教育，以及针对K-12学生的推广计划的开发，以通过使用燃料电池和电力生产作为实践演示平台来激发对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）职业的兴趣。本项目的目标是研究一种新工艺的基本原理，在该工艺中，燃料电池阴极的电互连层和多孔阴极本身在一个简单且廉价的一步工艺中制成，从而解决SOFC商业开发中的一个主要问题。在这项工作中，将开发一个过程中，阴极和电互连接口处理在一个步骤中使用反应烧结。本研究将首次尝试系统地研究以金属粉末为原料的环境辅助反应烧结合成尖晶石层的机理。这种尖晶石层可以是阴极-互连界面处的理想界面材料。反应烧结工艺将被应用于合成尖晶石基双层结构，可以作为互连涂层和阴极侧接触层。有前途的双层尖晶石结构，然后将严格评估其作为阴极互连接口的适用性。由尖晶石双层结构提供的成本降低和长期堆性能稳定性的改善将有助于固体氧化物燃料电池技术的商业可行性。

Fuel cells are a promising technology for converting the chemical energy stored in fuels such as hydrogen and methanol into useful electrical energy in a clean and environmentally sustainable manner. Fuel cells can be used to power a number of devices, from portable electronics to electric vehicles. One type of fuel cell, referred to as a solid-oxide fuel cell or SOFC, is particularly well suited for use in providing power for transportation applications such as electric cars. Today, solid oxide fuel cells can be manufactured that have excellent performance, but the electrical power output and efficiency of those fuel cells degrade quickly over time. This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award supports the development of new materials and a new manufacturing technique that can overcome one of the problems leading to this degradation in SOFC fuel cell performance. In particular, failure often occurs at the point at which the electrical wiring is connected to the parts of the fuel cell where chemical reactions take place to create the electric current. In this work, a new method and material for making this electrical connection to the fuel cell will be developed that will greatly increase the operating lifetime of SOFC fuel cells. This project will be conducted as a collaboration between university and industrial partners, which will provide a pathway for commercial application of the scientific advances made in the work. The scientific and societal broader impacts of the project will stem from the wide number of applications fuel cells in industry and society for clean power generation. The award will support training and education of undergraduate and graduate students in an integrated university-industry team environment, and the development of outreach programs directed at K-12 students to stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by using fuel cells and electric power production as hands-on demonstration platforms. The goal of this project is to study the fundamentals of a new process in which the electrical interconnect layer at the fuel cell cathode and the porous cathode itself are made in a one-step process that can be simple and inexpensive, thus solving a major problem in SOFC commercial development. In this work, a process will be developed in which the cathode and electric interconnect interface is processed in one step using reactive sintering. This research will be the first attempt to systematically study the mechanistic aspects of environmentally-assisted reactive sintering for synthesis of spinel layers with metallic powders as the starting materials. Such spinel layers could be an ideal interface material at the cathode-interconnect interface. The reactive sintering process will be applied to synthesize a spinel-based dual-layer structure that can serve as both interconnect coating and cathode-side contact layer. The promising dual-layer spinel structures will then be critically evaluated with regard to its applicability as a cathode-interconnect interface. Cost reduction and improvement in long-term stack performance stability afforded by the spinel dual-layer structure will contribute to the commercial viability of the solid oxide fuel cell technology.