Exergy study on the effect of material parameters and operating conditions on the anode diffusion polarization of the SOFC

Abstract

In the presented work, a model is created in order to investigate the effect of different material parameters and operating conditions on the anode diffusion overpotential, which influence the exergy and energy efficiency of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). In this research, it was demonstrated that the anode material parameters and operating conditions of the device components such as porosity, tortuosity, pore diameter, temperature, pressure and current density of the anode have various effects on the anode diffusion overpotential, which consequently affect the exergy and energy efficiency of the SOFC. The model has provided a strong direction on how to optimize the SOFC exergy and energy efficiency, by reducing the anode diffusion overpotential, which is affected by various material parameters and operating conditions.