An investigation of elecrodes interaction and optimal cell shape towards super-high current density operation of anode supported SOFCs

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H03930
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Thermal engineering
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Iwai Hiroshi 京都大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (00314229)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 吉田 英生 京都大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (50166964) ; 齋藤 元浩 京都大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (90314236)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 固体酸化物形燃料電池 / 薄膜電解質 / 電極微構造 / 数値解析 / 実験

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recent SOFCs often utilize thin electrolytes of the order of a few microns. Its scale is approaching to the microstructure scale of porous electrodes. It means a change of the potential field in an electrode may affect the poential field in the thin electrolyte and the other electrode. In the first half of this study, we numerically investigated the interaction between a thin electrolyte and porous electrodes to find a non-uniform distribution of current density in the thin electrolyte. It also shows that the electrochemical reaction is most active near the interface. On the basis of this simulation results, the effects of the shape modification of thin electrolyte are investigated in the second half. It is found that the average current density of cells with shape-modification can be enhanced as a result of combined effects of the decrease of activation overpotential and ohmic loss.

Free Research Field

熱工学