2018/08/04 by Jesse D. Benck, Benck, Jesse D., Daniel Rettenwander +8
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Advancements in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #X-ray Diffraction in Crystallography
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1808.01551
openalex publication_date 2018/08/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Characterizing electrochemical energy conversion devices during operation is\nan important strategy for correlating device performance with the properties of\ncell materials under real operating conditions. While operando characterization\nhas been used extensively for low temperature electrochemical cells, these\ntechniques remain challenging for solid oxide electrochemical cells due to the\nhigh temperatures and reactive gas atmospheres these cells require. Operando\nX-ray diffraction measurements of solid oxide electrochemical cells could\ndetect changes in the crystal structure of the cell materials, which can be\nuseful for understanding degradation process that limit device lifetimes, but\nthe experimental capability to perform operando X-ray diffraction on the fuel\nelectrodes of these cells has not been demonstrated. Here we present the first\nexperimental apparatus capable of performing X-ray diffraction measurements on\nthe fuel electrodes of high temperature solid oxide electrochemical cells\nduring operation under reducing gas atmospheres. We present data from an\nexample experiment with a model solid oxide cell to demonstrate that this\napparatus can collect X-ray diffraction spectra during electrochemical cell\noperation at high temperatures in humidified H2 gas. Measurements performed\nusing this apparatus can reveal new insights about solid oxide fuel cell and\nsolid oxide electrolyzer cell degradation mechanisms to enable the design of\ndurable, high performance devices.\n