3D Simulation and Performance Analysis of a Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell

In order to evaluate the electrochemical performance of a metal-supported solid oxide electrolysis cell with ceria-based electrolyte, a three-dimensional (3D) multi-physical model was established. A triple-layer electrolyte structure, 10Sc1CeSZ|GDC|10Sc1CeSZ, was designed with GDC as the main electrolyte layer. Firstly, the 3D model was built, considering the structures of interconnect, flow passage, and the multilayer cell. Secondly, coupling the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy with mass transport and electrochemical reactions, a multi-physical 3D model was established to estimate the electrochemical performance of the designed metal-supported solid oxide electrolysis cell, and to analyze the distributions of the fields of the velocity, concentration, and temperature in detail. The results show that the designed metal-supported SOEC can provide a better electrochemical performance, the overall voltage loss is 0.38 V with the ohmic and activation losses take up 33.72% and 66.28% respectively, under the condition of 650 °C, current density of 2.4 A/cm². Though, the porous metal support shows a little impact on the mass transport, but the temperature uniformity inside the cell can be improved significantly due to the better thermal conductivity of metal support.