Chemical reacting transport phenomena and multiscale models for SOFCs

Electrochemical reactions at the anode triple phase boundary (TPB) proceed on the basis of the fuel concentration, which depends on transport processes within the porous anode and the heterogeneous reforming chemistry. Microscale modeling is needed to describe these interactions with an acceptable accuracy. The aim of this article is to investigate if it is possible to use a multiscale approach to model solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and combine the accuracy at microscale with for example the calculation speed at macroscale to design SOFCs, based on a clear understanding of transport phenomena and functional requirements. A literature review is made to find out what methods can be used to model SOFCs and also to sort these models after length scale. Couplings between different methods and length scales, i.e., multiscale modeling, are outlined. The SOFC microscale model corresponds in many cases to the atom or molecular level, such as Lattice Bolzmann Method, Density Functional Theory, Molecular Dynamics, Dusty Gas Model, Ficks Model and Stefan-Maxwell Model. SOFC modeling in the mesoscale can be done with Kinetic Monte Carlo. Macroscale models match to the global flow field. Finite Element Method and Finite Volume Method are used to model SOFCs in the macroscale. Multiscale modeling is a promising tool for fuel cell research. COMSOL Multiphysics, based on the Finite Element Method as well as FLUENT, based on the Finite Volume Method, can be used to couple different physical models at different scales. Multiscale modeling increases the understanding for detailed transport phenomena, and can be used to make a correct decision on the specific design and control of operating conditions. It is expected that the development-and production cost will decrease as the understanding of complex phenomena increases.