National Synchrotron Light Source Seminar

Fuel cells, batteries, capacitators, electrolyzers, solar cells, combustion devices, fuel processing devices, and membranes and coatings all consist of heterogeneous functional materials (HeteroFoaMs) that exhibit functional behavior in a manner that controls their collective performance as an energy system. There is a critical need to understand the role of a HeteroFoaM’s structure, morphology, and composition on system performance. This seminar presents a non-destructive approach to image and characterize HeteroFoaMs using a transmission x-ray microscope at the Advanced Photon Source 32-ID-C. Three-dimensional structures within the sample volume are tomographically reconstructed at 38 nm spatial resolution. Multi-component lattice Boltzmann methods are used to analyze mass transfer, heat transfer, ionic/electronic charge transfer, and chemical/electrochemical reaction rates in the HeteroFoaM. To demonstrate this technique, chemical elements, chemical bonding, and phase- and pore-network structures in a solid oxide fuel cell are examined to provide fundamental insight into the origins of transport-related losses during operation. This work is supported by an Energy Frontier Research Center on Science Based Nano-Structure Design and Synthesis of Heterogeneous Functional Materials for Energy Systems (HeteroFoaM Center) funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DE-SC000106).