Three dimensional characterization of nickel coarsening in solid oxide cells via ex-situ ptychographic nano-tomography

Three-dimensional dataset of a solid oxide cell (SOC) fuel electrode microstructure. Data were acquired using ptychographic X-ray computed tomography (PXCT).Financial support from"the allianCe for ImagiNg of Energy MAterials", DSF-grant no. 1305-00032B via "The Danish Council for Strategic Research" is gratefully acknowledged. E. H. R.T is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grant number 200021_152554 and SNSF 200020_169623

Pathway to high performance, low temperature thin-film solid oxide cells grown on porous anodised aluminium oxide

<p>Reversible solid oxide cells (rSOCs) present a promising solution to future energy challenges through the efficient conversion between electrical and chemical energy. To date, the benefits of rSOC technology have been off-limits to portable power and electrolysis applications due to the excessive polarisation resistance of the oxygen electrode at low temperatures, characterised by high area specific resistance (ASR) values below 500 °C. In this work we demonstrate growth of symmetric and complete rSOC structures based on state-of-the-art vertically aligned nanocomposite (VAN) films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on porous Pt-coated anodised aluminium oxide (AAO) substrates. The symmetric rSOC structures give the first demonstration of an rSOC oxygen electrode with ASR below 0.1 Ωcm<sup>2</sup> at temperatures less than 450 °C. This is achieved through oxygen vacancy tuning by annealing, as confirmed by Time-of-Flight Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ToF-ERDA) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) measurements. Thus, the present work describes a promising route towards future high-performance rSOC devices for portable power applications.</p&gt