In collaboration with Nanjing Tech University (China) and Colorado School of Mines (USA), Prof. Meng Ni, a Professor and Associate Head (Research) of BRE, co-authored a research article entitled “Thermal-expansion offset for high-performance fuel cell cathodes” in Nature.
The first author, Dr Yuan Zhang, worked in Prof. Meng Ni’s lab for 1 year where she conducted part of the experimental research reported in this Nature paper. The second author, Dr Bin Chen (now an Assistant Professor at Shenzhen University, China), received his PhD in 2018 from BRE under supervision of Prof. Meng Ni. The corresponding authors are Prof. Zongping Shao and Prof. Wei Zhou, who are supervisors of Dr. Yuan Zhang and are both from Nanjing Tech University.
High temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the potential to replace conventional thermal power plants for energy conversion. One challenge for SOFC commercialization is thermo-mechanical instability due to mismatch in thermal expansion behaviour between different fuel cell components, which can cause cell performance degradation or even failure. In this research article, a novel electrode development strategy is proposed by compositing a cobalt-based perovskite with high electrochemical activity and large thermal expansion coefficient with a negative thermal expansion material. A new interface is formed between the two materials. A-site deficiencies in the perovskite are also observed. As a result, the composite electrode shows both high electrochemical activity and excellent thermos-mechanical stability. This research provides a new strategy for the development of high performance and durable solid oxide fuel cells for efficient and clean power generation.
The details of this Nature article can be found at:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03264-1
Prof. Meng NI is a Professor and Associate Head (Research) of BRE. He is a Humboldt Fellow (Germany). His research focuses on high temperature fuel cells, rechargeable metal-air batteries, flow batteries, and novel electrochemical cells for low-grade heat harvesting, and energy materials. He is serving as a Senior Editor for Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/sustainable-energy-technologies-and-assessments (Elsevier) and a former Associate Editor for Science Bulletin (Elsevier). He is an Associate Editor for International Journal of Green Energy: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ljge20/current (Taylor & Francis) and International Journal of Energy Research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1099114x (Wiley). He is one of the founding editors of Energy and AI: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-and-ai/ (Elsevier).
For more details about Prof. Ni, please visit: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/prof-meng-ni/
