X-ray attenuation properties of commonly employed solid oxide fuel cell materials

Abstract

X-ray nano CT has been vastly applied to study the microstructure of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes. One widely accepted indicator of electrochemical performance is the triple phase boundary (TPB): a location where the three materials responsible for ionic, electronic and gas-phase reactant transport are in contact. X-ray absorption tomography has been used extensively in the characterisation of these TPBs, utilising the different attenuation properties of the constituent materials. Here we present a quantitative comparison of the attenuation properties for elements commonly employed in solid oxide fuel cell materials.