Heterogeneous Electrode Designs for Planar SOFC Optimizations

摘要

Suitable porous electrode design may play a significant role in the performance enhancement of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In this paper, a genetic algorithm optimization method is employed to design electrodes based on a 2-D planar SOFC model development. The objective is to find out suitable porosity and particle size distributions for both anode and cathode electrodes so that the cell performance can be maximized. The results indicate that the optimized heterogeneous electrode may better improve SOFC performance than the homogeneous count-part, particularly under relatively high current density conditions. The optimization results are dependent on the operating conditions. The effects of pressure losses along the anode/cathode channels and inlet fuel compositions are investigated. The proposed approach provides a systematical method for electrode microstructure designs of high performance SOFCs.