Objective

Reduce the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells by

• Developing novel electrode materials and microstructures
• Studying computationally the interplay of transport/reaction processes processes

Approach

• Fabrication of well-defined single-crystal thin films of both cathode and anode materials which allow fundamental electrochemical insight
• Atomistic and continuum-level computational studies of transport and reaction phenomena to support the experimental findings

Impact

• Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are the most efficient devices that can convert the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electrical energy, however they are still too expensive for large-scale commercialization because of the high operating temperature.
• Our work aims at reducing the temperatures of SOFCs by developing and studying novel mixed conducting materials which can lower the temperature below 700C without compromising the performance and power output.
• We map the our experimental results, conducted both at the nano and macroscopic level, to atomistic and continuum models, leading to significant new insight on the relevant electrochemical reactions and to further power output improvement.

Contact

Francesco Ciucci, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Email: mefrank@ust.hk