Pulsed electrolysis of carbon dioxide by large-scale solid oxide electrolytic cells for intermittent renewable energy storage

CO_(2) electrolysis with solid oxide electrolytic cells(SOECs)using intermittently available renewable energy has potential applications for carbon neutrality and energy storage.In this study,a pulsed current strategy is used to replicate intermittent energy availability,and the stability and conversion rate of the cyclic operation by a large-scale flat-tube SOEC are studied.One hundred cycles under pulsed current ranging from -100 to -300 mA/cm^(2) with a total operating time of about 800 h were carried out.The results show that after 100 cycles,the cell voltage attenuates by 0.041%/cycle in the high current stage of−300 mA/cm^(2),indicating that the lifetime of the cell can reach up to about 500 cycles.The total CO_(2) conversion rate reached 52%,which is close to the theoretical value of 54.3% at -300 mA/cm^(2),and the calculated efficiency approached 98.2%,assuming heat recycling.This study illustrates the significant advantages of SOEC in efficient electrochemical energy conversion,carbon emission mitigation,and seasonal energy storage.

Numerical multi-physical optimization of operating condition and current collecting setup for large-area solid oxide fuel cells

Due to the depletion of traditional fossil fuels and the aggravation of related environmental problems,hydrogen energy is gaining more attention all over the world.Solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC)is a promising power generation technology operating on hydrogen with a high efficiency.To further boost the power output of a single cell and thus a single stack,increasing the cell area is an effective route.However,it was recently found that further increasing the effective area of an SOFC single cell with a flat-tubular structure and symmetric double-sided cathodes would result in a lower areal performance.In this work,a multi-physical model is built to study the effect of the effective area on the cell performance.The distribution of different physical fields is systematically analyzed.Optimization of the cell performance is also pursued by systematically tuning the cell operating condition and the current collection setup.An improvement of 42%is revealed by modifying the inlet gas flow rates and by enhancing the current collection.In the future,optimization of cell geometry will be performed to improve the homogeneity of different physical fields and thus to improve the stability of the cell.

Conductivity and Oxidation Behavior of Fe-16Cr Alloy as Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Interconnect Under Long-Stability and Thermal Cycles

Conductivity and oxidation behavior of Fe-16Cr alloy were investigated under long-term stability operation at 750℃and thermal cycles from room temperature to 750℃.The results showed that the area specific resistance(ASR)of Fe-16Cr alloy increased over time and reached about 56.29 mΩcm~(2)after 40,000 h of long-term stability operation at 750℃by theoretical calculation.The ASR of Fe-16Cr remained about 11 mΩcm~(2)after 52 thermal cycles from room temperature to750℃.The analysis of structure showed that the oxidized phase on the surface of Fe-16Cr was mainly composed of Cr_(2)O_3and Fe Cr_(2)O_(4)spinel phase under long-term stability operation at 750℃.While the Cr_(2)O_(3)phase was mainly observed on the surface of Fe-16Cr alloy after 52 thermal cycles,the oxidation rates of Fe-16Cr alloy were 0.0142μm h~(-1)and 0.06μm cycle~(-1)under long-term stability operation and under thermal cycle,respectively.The property of Fe-16Cr alloy with 2.6 mm thickness met the lifespan requirement of interconnect for solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC)stacks.The Cr element all diff used onto oxidation surface,indicating that it was necessary to spray a coating on the surface to avoid poisoning cell cathode of SOFCs.Two 2-cell stacks were assembled and tested to verify the properties of Fe-16Cr alloy as SOFC interconnect under long-term stability operation and thermal cycle condition.