Design of open-porous materials for high-temperature fuel cells

  • Tomasz Wejrzanowski
  • Samih Haj Ibrahim
  • Karol Cwieka
  • Jaroslaw Milewski
  • Krzysztof Jan Kurzydlowski

Abstract

Microstructure is one of the major factors influencing material properties. It is especially important for open-porous materialsdedicated to catalytic applications, where fraction of pores, their size distribution and specific surface influence the diffusion ofreactants and the kinetics of catalytic reactions. In these studies the numerical models of the microstructure of open-porouselectrodes for molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) are presented. The models presented here simulate fabrication routes forreal materials, including mixing of powders, tape casting and sintering processes. The substrate powders are represented byspheres with defined size distribution. Mixing and compaction of powders with polymeric binder is simulated by a granularmodel implemented in LAMMPS code. In the next step the polymeric phase represented by fine particles and larger porogenaddition is removed to form pores. The sintering process is simulated by geometry smoothing, which results in sphereaggregation. The models presented here were compared with micro computed tomography (CT) 3D images of real MCFCmaterials. Quantitative analysis of CT images was performed and it was demonstrated that algorithms used in these studiesmake it possible to design materials with the desired porous microstructure.

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Published
2016-10-29
How to Cite
WEJRZANOWSKI, Tomasz et al. Design of open-porous materials for high-temperature fuel cells. Journal of Power Technologies, [S.l.], v. 96, n. 3, p. 178--182, oct. 2016. ISSN 2083-4195. Available at: <https://papers.itc.pw.edu.pl/index.php/JPT/article/view/918>. Date accessed: 16 apr. 2024.
Section
Materials Science

Keywords

Open-porous materials; MCFC; microstructure; modelling

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