Benchmarking Electrolytes for the Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Using a Finite Element Model

Abstract

The demand for green hydrogen is increasing, as it is estimated to reduce ten percent of total global green-house-gas emissions from fossil fuel. The solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is an electrochemical energy-conversion device (EECD) that produces green hydrogen via steam electrolysis. It is preferred to other EECDs for clean hydrogen production owing to its high efficiency, robust kinetics, and lack of precious-metal requirements for cell construction. Herein, we report a Multiphysics model describing the transport phenomena in the SOEC. The governing equations used in the model include a thorough description of the electrode kinetics and of the behavior of the three electrode–electrolyte interfaces in the cell. For the first time, the effect of the scandium-doped zirconia (SCGZ), yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), and gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) electrolytes was modeled at different temperatures and pressures. By linking the convection and diffusion equations with the Butler–Volmer at shorter scales, a true representation of the cell operation was simulated. Our models show a R2 value of over 0.996 in predicting the cell-polarization curves and electrochemical properties at the given operating conditions. The impedance of the SCGZ was 0.0240 Ohm.cm2. This value was two- and four-fold lower than the values of the YSZ and GDC, respectively. Furthermore, our theoretical findings of both the polarization data and the impedance were in good agreement with the experimental data.

Keywords

• multiphysics model
• solid oxide electrolyzer
• zirconia
• ceria-based electrolytes
• hydrogen production
• steam electrolysis