Computational fluid dynamics analysis of solid oxide electrolysis cells with delaminations Xinfang Jin, Xingjian Xue* Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA article info Article history: Received 24 March 2010 Received in revised form 26 April 2010 Accepted 26 April 2010 Keywords: Electrolysis Mathematical model Solid oxide Delamination Thermal expansion mismatch abstract Due to thermal expansion mismatch, the electrode layer of SOECs might be detached from the electrolyte layer, leading to delamination phenomenon. While this phenomenon is observed in post-test stacks, quantitative understanding of delamination effects may facilitate to evaluate SOEC performance tolerance on such failures. In this research, a 2-D CFD SOEC model is developed and is utilized to investigate the sensitivity of electrolysis performance to deliminations occurred at oxygen electrode/electrolyte interface. Results indicate that delaminations significantly influence local charge current density distribu- tions since the charge transport path is cutoff. In both parallel flow and counter flow settings, electrolysis performance is more sensitive to the delamination occurred at the center of the cell than those occurred at the edges of the cell. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. 1. Introduction The hydrogen has been identified as an important energy carrier, and could play a significant role in future clean energy technology such as fuel cells [1]. Hydrogen can be produced through several methods, e.g., thermal reforming, photo- electrochemical water splitting, etc., among which direct water electrolysis through the reverse process of fuel cells is widely recognized as a clean and sustainable method. PEM electrolysis cell and solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) are two popular methods in this respect. Since SOEC is ceramic cell, it can sustain high operating temperatures and consequently may provide more advantages than low temperature elec- trolysis cells, such as high reaction rate, high kinetic energy, and high conversion efficiency, etc. In particular, there is an increasing interest in using nuclear energy for hydrogen generation in an efficient and environmentally friendly way, where the high temperature steam generated from nuclear plant can be directly utilized by SOECs for hydrogen genera- tion [2e6]. Hydrogen production through SOECs has been investigated using both experimental method and numerical modeling method. Since very complex transport and electrochemical reaction processes take place simultaneously within SOECs, modeling method, as an important complementary to exper- imental method, plays an increasing role in de-convoluting the coupled multi-physics processes and understanding the working mechanisms. In this respect, mathematical models at different levels were developed to investigate SOEC steady state performance [7e10] and dynamic performance [11,12]. In order to better understand multi-physics processes, detailed parameter distributions, and their effects on SOEC perfor- mance, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were employed. Hawkes et al. [13] employed CFD modeling method * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 803 576 5598; fax: þ1 803 777 0106. E-mail address: Xue@cec.sc.edu (X. Xue). Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy 35 (2010) 7321 e7328 0360-3199/$ e see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.04.158