Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Three-dimensional reconstruction of a solid-oxide fuel-cell anode

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 541–544 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

The drive towards increased energy efficiency and reduced air pollution has led to accelerated worldwide development of fuel cells. As the performance and cost of fuel cells have improved, the materials comprising them have become increasingly sophisticated, both in composition and microstructure. In particular, state-of-the-art fuel-cell electrodes typically have a complex micro/nano-structure involving interconnected electronically and ionically conducting phases, gas-phase porosity, and catalytically active surfaces1. Determining this microstructure is a critical, yet usually missing, link between materials properties/processing and electrode performance. Current methods of microstructural analysis, such as scanning electron microscopy, only provide two-dimensional anecdotes of the microstructure, and thus limited information about how regions are interconnected in three-dimensional space. Here we demonstrate the use of dual-beam focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy to make a complete three-dimensional reconstruction of a solid-oxide fuel-cell electrode. We use this data to calculate critical microstructural features such as volume fractions and surface areas of specific phases, three-phase boundary length, and the connectivity and tortuosity of specific subphases.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Schematic diagram showing the FIB–SEM geometry and a low-magnification SEM image of a FIB-etched region at the anode/electrolyte interface of a SOFC.
Figure 2: 3D anode reconstruction.
Figure 3: 3D map of the three-phase boundaries in the anode.
Figure 4: Procedure for calculating tortuosity on a finite sample volume.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Brandon, N. P., Skinner, S. & Steele, B. C. H. Recent advances in materials for fuel cells. Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 33, 183–213 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Adler, S. B. Factors governing oxygen reduction in solid oxide fuel cell cathodes. Chem. Rev. 104, 4791–4843 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Jiang, S. P. & Chan, S. H. A review of anode materials development in solid oxide fuel cells. J. Mater. Sci. 39, 4405–4439 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kenjo, T. & Nishiya, M. LaMnO3 air cathodes containing ZrO2 electrolyte for high temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Solid State Ion. 57, 295–302 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Svensson, A. M., Sunde, S. & Nisancioglu, K. A mathematical model of the porous SOFC electrode. Solid State Ion. 86, 1211–1216 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Virkar, A. V., Chen, J., Tanner, C. W. & Kim, J. W. The role of electrode microstructure on activation and concentration polarizations in solid oxide fuel cells. Solid State Ion. 131, 189–198 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Sunde, S. Simulations of composite electrodes in fuel cells. J. Electroceram. 5, 153–182 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Murray, E. P., Tsai, T. & Barnett, S. A. Oxygen transfer processes in (La,Sr)MnO3/Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 cathodes: an impedance spectroscopy study. Solid State Ion. 110, 235–243 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Tiedemann, W. H. & Newman, J. S. Porous electrode theory with battery applications. AIChE J. 21, 25–41 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhao, F., Jiang, Y., Lin, G. Y. & Virkar, A. V. in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell VII (ed. Singhal, S. C.) 501–510 (The Electrochemical Society, Pennington NJ, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Deng, X. & Petric, A. Geometrical modeling of the triple-phase boundary in solid oxide fuel cells. J. Power Sources 140, 297–303 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wang, C. T. & Smith, J. M. Tortuosity factors for diffusion in catalyst pellets. AIChE J. 29, 132–136 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Fleig, J. & Maier, J. The influence of laterally inhomogeneous contacts on the impedance of solid materials: a three-dimensional finite-element study. J. Electroceram. 1, 73–89 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Tanner, C. W., Fung, K. Z. & Virkar, A. V. The effect of porous composite electrode structure on solid oxide fuel cell performance. J. Electrochem. Soc. 144, 21–30 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Stevenson, J. W. et al. in Proc. 8th Int. Symp. on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (eds Singhal, S. C. & Dokiya, M.) 31–42 (The Electrochemical Society, Pennington NJ, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kim, J. W., Virkar, A. V., Fung, K. Z., Mehta, K. & Singhal, S. C. Polarization effects in intermediate temperature, anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells. J. Electrochem. Soc. 146, 69–78 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Brown, M., Primdahl, S. & Mogensen, M. Structure/performance relations for Ni/Yttria-stabilized zirconia anodes for solid oxide fuel cells. J. Electrochem. Soc. 147, 475–485 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hansen, K. V., Norrman, K. & Mogensen, M. H2–H2O–Ni–YSZ electrode performance: Effect of segregation to the interface. J. Electrochem. Soc. 151, A1436–A1444 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lin, Y., Zhan, Z., Liu, J. & Barnett, S. A. Direct operation of solid oxide fuel cells with methane fuel. Solid State Ion. 176, 1827–1835 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Liu, J. & Barnett, S. A. Thin YSZ electrolyte solid oxide fuel cells by centrifugal casting. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 85, 3096–3098 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Sakamoto, S., Taira, H. & Takagi, H. Effective electrode reaction area of cofired type planar SOFC. Denki Kagaku 64, 609–613 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Norby, T. in Proc. 2nd European Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Forum (Oslo, Norway) (ed. Thorstenen, B.) 607–616 (Dr Ulf Bossel, Oberrohrdorf, Switzerland, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Bieberle, A., Meier, L. P. & Gauckler, L. J. The electrochemistry of Ni pattern anodes used as solid oxide fuel cell model electrodes. J. Electrochem. Soc. 148, A646–A656 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Mizusaki, J. et al. Preparation of nickel pattern electrodes on YSZ and their electrochemical properties in H2–H2O atmospheres. J. Electrochem. Soc. 141, 2129–2134 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhao, F. & Virkar, A. V. Dependence of polarization in anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells on various cell parameters. J. Power Sources 141, 79–95 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Zalc, J. M., Reyes, S. C. & Iglesia, E. The effects of diffusion mechanism and void structure on transport rates and tortuosity factors in complex porous structures. Chem. Eng. Sci. 59, 2947–2960 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors at Northwestern University, University of Washington, and University of Michigan gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Foundation Ceramics program (DMR-0542740, DMR-0542619 and DMR-0542874). They also thank Functional Coating Technology LLC for providing the SOFC described here. The FIB–SEM was carried out in the Electron Microscopy Center at Argonne National Laboratory, which is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Contract W-31-109-ENG-38.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 60208, USA

    James R. Wilson, Worawarit Kobsiriphat, Roberto Mendoza, Peter W. Voorhees & Scott A. Barnett

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Roberto Mendoza, Hsun-Yi Chen & Katsuyo Thornton

  3. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, 60439, USA

    Jon M. Hiller & Dean J. Miller

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    Stuart B. Adler

Authors
  1. James R. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Worawarit Kobsiriphat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Roberto Mendoza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hsun-Yi Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jon M. Hiller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dean J. Miller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Katsuyo Thornton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Peter W. Voorhees
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Stuart B. Adler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Scott A. Barnett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to James R. Wilson or Scott A. Barnett.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary information and figures S1, S2 (PDF 1178 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wilson, J., Kobsiriphat, W., Mendoza, R. et al. Three-dimensional reconstruction of a solid-oxide fuel-cell anode. Nature Mater 5, 541–544 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1668

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1668

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing