Montanini Roberto, Quattrocchi Antonino, Piccolo Sebastiano A, Amato Alessandra, Trocino Stefano, Zignani Sabrina C, Faro Massimiliano Lo, Squadrito Gaetano
Appl Opt. 2016 Sep 1;55(25):7142-8. doi: 10.1364/AO.55.007142.
Electrochemical methods such as voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are effective for quantifying solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operational performance, but not for identifying and monitoring the chemical processes that occur on the electrodes' surface, which are thought to be strictly related to the SOFCs' efficiency. Because of their high operating temperature, mechanical failure or cathode delamination is a common shortcoming of SOFCs that severely affects their reliability. Infrared thermography may provide a powerful tool for probing in situ SOFC electrode processes and the materials' structural integrity, but, due to the typical design of pellet-type cells, a complete optical access to the electrode surface is usually prevented. In this paper, a specially designed SOFC is introduced, which allows temperature distribution to be measured over all the cathode area while still preserving the electrochemical performance of the device. Infrared images recorded under different working conditions are then processed by means of a dedicated image processing algorithm for quantitative data analysis. Results reported in the paper highlight the effectiveness of infrared thermal imaging in detecting the onset of cell failure during normal operation and in monitoring cathode activity when the cell is fed with different types of fuels.
伏安法和电化学阻抗谱等电化学方法对于量化固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）的运行性能是有效的，但无法识别和监测电极表面发生的化学过程，而这些过程被认为与SOFC的效率密切相关。由于其工作温度较高，机械故障或阴极分层是SOFC的常见缺点，严重影响其可靠性。红外热成像可能为原位探测SOFC电极过程和材料的结构完整性提供一个强大的工具，但是，由于颗粒型电池的典型设计，通常无法完全光学访问电极表面。本文介绍了一种专门设计的SOFC，它能够在保持器件电化学性能的同时测量整个阴极区域的温度分布。然后，通过专用的图像处理算法对在不同工作条件下记录的红外图像进行处理，以进行定量数据分析。本文报道的结果突出了红外热成像在检测正常运行期间电池故障的发生以及在电池使用不同类型燃料时监测阴极活性方面的有效性。
