NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION:
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer an important new option for converting fuels to electricity with increased efficiency, reduced pollution, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The race to reap the commercial and environmental benefits of this technology is largely being decided by practical issues, including cost and device reliability. The proposed project seeks to better understand how SOFC performance and reliability are linked to manufacturing methods and constituent materials properties, by the acquisition and analysis of three-dimensional images of the fuel cells. Such images can be used to determine what structures yield improved performance and hence reduced cost, find manufacturing conditions that yield the desired structure/chemistry, and examine the factors causing fuel cells to degrade over time. The improved structural and chemical information will be disseminated to the fuel cell research and development community where it will help enable critical connections, for example between industrial developers ? who need reliable performance/lifetime predictions ? and modelers ? who require good structural/chemical information to make such predictions. A substantial number of graduate and undergraduate students, in many cases from underrepresented groups, will receive training through this project. There are a number of other educational impacts, including high-school science teachers participating in summer research.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
The limited quantitative information available on electrode structure and interfacial chemistry poses a major barrier to fundamental understanding of fuel cell performance and stability. This Focused Research Group is examining the relationships between the processing, structure, and electrochemical properties of key SOFC materials, utilizing a set of tools based on focused ion beam ? scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) to determine the microstructure of SOFC electrodes in three-dimensions (3D). The project includes fabrication of state-of-the-art SOFCs, detailed electrochemical characterization using novel impedance spectroscopy methods, structural measurement using FIB-SEM, segmentation of the data into 3D phase maps, visualization of the microstructures, extraction of macrohomogeneous structural parameters, and simulations of microstructural coarsening and electrochemical polarization based directly on 3D data sets. Additional information regarding interdiffusion, accumulation of cation species and/or impurities at interfaces, and second phases is obtained with analytical scanning transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis and synchrotron X-ray methods. Availability of this 3D microstructure information will be instrumental for transforming our understanding of how fuel cell electrodes work to a more quantitative science. Broad impacts of the project include the continued growth of a 3D structural data library available to researchers/developers nationwide, and development of analysis tools relevant to the broader 3D microstructure community. Students and teachers involved in the project receive training on state of the art tools for fuel-cell fabrication, electrochemical testing, microscopy, and materials modeling.
Choose a quarter and click "Go."
| AWARD OVERVIEW |
| Award Number |
0907639 |
Funding Agency |
National Science Foundation |
| Total Award Amount |
$900,000 |
Project Location - City |
Evanston |
| Award Date |
08/05/2009 |
Project Location - State |
IL |
| Project Status |
More than 50% Completed |
Project Location - Zip |
60208-1110
|
| Jobs Reported |
3.54 |
Congressional District |
09 |
| Project Location - Country |
US |
|
|
Recipient Information
(Grants)
| Recipient Information (Grants) |
|
Recipient Name
|
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY |
| Recipient DUNS Number |
160079455
|
| Recipient Address |
633 CLARK ST EVANSTON |
| Recipient City |
EVANSTON |
| Recipient State |
Illinois |
| Recipient Zip |
60208-0001 |
| Recipient Congressional District |
09 |
| Recipient Country |
USA |
Required to Report Top 5
Highly Compensated Officials |
No |
Projects and Jobs Information
| Projects and Jobs Information |
| Project Title |
Collaborative Research: Three-Dimensional Microstructural and Chemical Mapping of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Electrodes: Processing, Structure, Stability, and Electrochemistry |
| Project Status |
More than 50% Completed |
| Final Project Report Submitted |
No |
| Project Activities Description |
Engineering & Technology |
| Quarterly Activities/Project Description |
Substantial research and development effort is currently being invested in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for highly efficient, low pollution electricity generation. This project aims to enable further progress in SOFC development by providing a deeper fundamental understanding of how electrode microstructure impacts performance and durability. Two graduate students and two undergraduate students are working on this project.
In recent work, large-volume images were obtained of a series of Ni-YSZ anodes that had been annealed at different temperatures and times. The ultimate aim of this work is to use accelerated testing, implemented by annealing under anode conditions but at temperatures higher than normal for SOFCs, to predict long-term stability. Thus, annealing was done at 900 ? 1100oC, higher than the normal 750 ? 800oC SOFC operating temperature, but with tractable times of ? 500 h compared to desired SOFC lifetimes of 40,000 h. The results are somewhat surprising, with Ni and YSZ feature sizes increasing only for the highest temperature and longest annealing times. However, there are substantial changes in pore structure even at lower temperatures/times, with an increasing fraction of isolated pores for moderate annealing but less isolated pores for longer anneals. This is probably the result of an unstable initial pore structure, produced by the reduction of NiO during initial cell operation (the initial anode is prepared by firing a NiO-YSZ mixture, and then reducing the NiO to Ni in the reducing fuel environment). One implication of these results is that initial anode structure changes and reduced performance, observed by us and other groups, is a result of initial transients rather than the microstructural coarsening that is expected to determine the long-term anode durability. Thus, future experiments will be designed to examine structure changes after the initial pore re-structuring, in order to observe the true microstructural coarsening. |
| Jobs Created |
3.54 |
| Description of Jobs Created |
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds have significantly aided the research mission of Northwestern University by providing salary and wage compensation for individuals directly involved in ARRA-funded projects, both at Northwestern and at consortium institutions, as well as at the vendor organizations who provide goods and services in support of that mission. Northwestern has employed a standard methodology for determining jobs created or retained, based on revised guidance presented by OMB on 12-18-09 (ref. M-10-08). Jobs are reported in aggregate for the grant, comprised of calculated figures for hourly and salaried employees at Northwestern plus the reported jobs created or retained by subrecipients. The number of Northwestern hourly employees will be calculated as the number of hours charged to the grant during the quarter divided by the standard hours in a full-time schedule for the quarter. The number of Northwestern salaried employees will be calculated based on the salaries charged to the ARRA fund during the quarter. Following is a list of descriptions for jobs created or retained, in whole or in part, by this ARRA funded project:Post Doctoral Fellow,Professor,Research Assistant,Temporary Research Student Worker. |
Purchaser Information
(Grants)
| Purchaser Information |
| Contracting Office ID |
Not Reported |
| Contracting Office Name |
Not Available |
| Contracting Office Region |
Not Available |
| TAS Major Program |
49-0101 |
| Award Information |
| Award Date |
08/05/2009 |
| Award Number |
0907639 |
| Order Number |
|
| Award Type |
Grants |
| Funding Agency ID |
49 |
| Funding Agency Name |
National Science Foundation |
| Funding Office Name |
Not Available |
| Awarding Agency ID |
49 |
| Awarding Agency Name |
National Science Foundation |
| Amount of Award |
$900,000 |
| Funds Invoiced/Received |
$607,000 |
| Expenditure Amount |
$676,084 |
| Infrastructure Expenditure Amount |
$0 |
| Infrastructure Purpose and Rationale |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact Name |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact Email |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact Phone |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact Address |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact City |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact State |
Not Reported |
| Infrastructure Point of Contact Zip |
Not Reported |
Product or Service Information
(Grants)
| Product or Service Information |
| Primary Activity Code |
U03 |
| Activity Description |
Engineering & Technology |
| Sub-Awards Information |
| Sub-awards to Organizations |
0 |
| Sub-award Amounts to Organizations |
$0 |
| Sub-Awards to Individuals |
0 |
| Sub-Award Amounts to Individuals |
$0 |
| Number of Sub-awards less than $25,000/award |
0 |
| Amount of Sub-awards less than $25,000/award |
$0 |
| Number of payments to vendors greater than $25,000 |
0 |
| Total Amount of payments to vendors greater than $25,000/award |
$0 |
| Number of payments to vendors less than $25,000/award |
23 |
| Total Amount of payments to vendors less than $25,000/award |
$2,697 |
| Location Information |
| Latitude, Longitude |
42º 3' 20",
-87º 40' 28" |
| Congressional District |
09 |
| Address 1 |
633 Clark St |
| Address 2 |
|
| City |
Evanston |
| County |
Cook |
| State |
IL |
| Zip |
60208-1110 |
|
 |