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Calculation of Oxygen Surface Diffusion on Bulk Oxygen
Ion Conductors


EMSL Project ID
24290

Abstract

Fuel cell activation losses are directly related to the area of the Triple Phase
Boundary, the electrochemically active area. In a solid oxide fuel cell, oxygen
atoms adsorbed on the electrolyte surface may diffuse on the surface and, if they
are within the TPB area, may react to enter the solid oxide electrolyte, most
commonly yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ). Therefore, oxygen surface diffusion
may be an important step in the fuel cell kinetics. Due to the difficulty of
experimentally measuring oxygen surface diffusion, we propose to calculate the
surface diffusion of oxygen on YSZ with quantum simulations.

Project Details

Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2007-05-23
End Date
2008-09-17
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Fritz Prinz
Institution
Stanford University

Team Members

Timothy Holme
Institution
Stanford University