Electrodes by Design - Microstructural Engineering of High Performance Electrodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

电极和电解质-电极界面在所有电池的性能中起着关键作用。在固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）中，多孔复合材料阳极和阴极的微结构是特别关键的，因为它们决定电极的电化学、电学、机械和传输特性，以及到/来自电极/电解质界面的电流分布。现有技术的SOFC电极主要依赖于经验性的理解来建立电极微观结构及其对关键性能特征（包括长期耐久性）的影响。但是，提议者最近的工作已经建立了一套新的工具和技术，基于我们成像、建模、模拟和制造具有受控特性的新电极结构的能力，这些工具和技术提供了走向设计主导的方法以制造改进的电极的前景。该提案旨在开发和演示这一点，进一步改进和验证我们的分析和建模工具，使用这些设计最佳结构，使用提案人建立的三种新型加工技术制造这些结构，然后测量器件性能以反馈到设计过程中。

The electrode, and the electrolyte-electrode interface, plays a critical role in the performance of all cells. In Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) the microstructures of the porous composite anode and cathode are particularly critical as they determine the electrochemical, electrical, mechanical and transport properties of the electrode, and of current distribution to/from the electrode/electrolyte interface. Current state of the art SOFC electrodes rely on a largely empirical understanding to establish the electrode microstructure, and its influence on key performance characteristics, including long term durability. But recent work by the proposers has established a new suite of tools and techniques that offer the prospect of moving towards a design led approach to manufacture of improved electrodes, based on our ability to image, model, simulate and fabricate new electrode structures with controlled properties. This proposal seeks to develop and demonstrate this, further improving and validating our analysis and modelling tools, using these design optimum structures, fabricating these using three novel processing techniques established by the proposers, and then measuring device performance to feedback into the design process.