Fuel Cell power systems have important potential for many applications, both stationary and mobile, due to their outstanding energy efficiency and environmental characteristics [2]. In particular, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) systems emerge as one of the most commercially widespread technologies, together with Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), offering high energy efficiency and robu...

Title of Document: ELECTROCHEMICAL OXIDATION KINETICS OF HYDROGEN AND HIGHER HYDROCARBON FUELS ON SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELLS. Oktay Demircan, Ph.D., 2007 Dissertation Directed By: Professor Bryan W. Eichhorn, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are promising electrochemical energy converting devices due to their ability to use not only hydrogen but also hydrocarb...

Conversion of fossil fuels to electrical power is the most popular method of electrical power generation. Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and the increase in air pollution, the necessity of using high efficiency power generation systems is increasing. High temperature fuel cells, such as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC), have high efficiency. According t...

Previous experimental studies have shown that addition of small amounts of oxygen to a hydrocarbon fuel stream can control coking in the anode, while relatively large amounts of oxygen are present in the fuel stream in single-chamber solid oxide fuel cells SOFCs . In order to rationally design an anode for such use, it is important to understand the coupled catalytic oxidation/ reforming chemis...

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) offer electrochemically generated sources of electricity using oxygen ion transport at elevated temperatures. Analysis of materials used in SOFC using electron microscopy provides insights of foreseeable chemical reactions that govern the performance of the fuel cell. Materials used in SOFC can be divided into four categories; anode, cathode, electrolyte and interc...

An integrated system of a microreformer and a carrier allowing for syngas generation from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for micro-SOFC application is discussed. The microreformer with an overall size of 12.7 mm × 12.7 mm × 1.9 mm is fabricated with micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technologies. As a catalyst, a special foam-like material made from ceria-zirconia nanoparticles doped with r...

The application of a self-organizing fuzzy proportional–integral–derivative (SOF-PID) controller to a multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) nonlinear revolute-joint robot arm is studied in this paper. The SOF controller is a learning supervisory controller, making small changes to the values of the PID gains while the system is in operation. In effect, the SOF controller replaces an experienced...

Solid oxide fuel cells are high temperature electrochemical devices for direct conversion of fuel and oxidant to electricity and heat. The high temperature and dual atmosphere creates challenges for the materials in solid oxide fuel cell stacks. In this thesis SOFC stack materials were studied and developed. SOFC stacks are assembled at room temperature, then heated up, conditioned and operated...

A novel, integral, tri-layered, proton conducting membrane SOFC was readily fabricated for simultaneous conversion of ethane at 650-700 degrees C to electrical power and ethylene with high selectivity.

The relevance of micro Laue diffraction tomography (µ-LT) to investigate heterogeneous polycrystalline materials has been studied. For this purpose, a multiphase solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrode composite made of yttria-stabilized zirconia and nickel oxide phases, with grains of about a few micrometres in size, has been analyzed. In order to calibrate the Laue data and to test the techniq...