There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

A ceramic fuel cell in an all solid-state energy conversion device that produces electricity by electrochemically combining fuel and oxidant gases across an ionic conducting oxide. Current ceramic fuel cells use an oxygen-ion conductor or a proton conductor as the electrolyte and operate at high temperatures (>600°C). Ceramic fuel cells, commonly referred to as solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), are presently under development for a variety of power generation applications. This paper reviews the science and technology of ceramic fuel cells and discusses the critical issues posed by the development of this type of fuel cell. The emphasis is given to the discussion of component materials (especially, ZrO2 electrolyte, nickel/ZrO2 cermet anode, LaMnO3 cathode, and LaCrO3 interconnect), gas reactions at the electrodes, stack designs, and processing techniques used in the fabrication of required ceramic structures.

Ceramic Fuel Cells

Physical, chemical and electrochemical properties of pure and doped ceria

Cerium dioxide (CeO2, ceria) is becoming an ubiquitous constituent in catalytic systems for a variety of applications. 2016 sees the 40th anniversary since ceria was first employed by Ford Motor Company as an oxygen storage component in car converters, to become in the years since its inception an irreplaceable component in three-way catalysts (TWCs). Apart from this well-established use, ceria is looming as a catalyst component for a wide range of catalytic applications. For some of these, such as fuel cells, CeO2-based materials have almost reached the market stage, while for some other catalytic reactions, such as reforming processes, photocatalysis, water-gas shift reaction, thermochemical water splitting, and organic reactions, ceria is emerging as a unique material, holding great promise for future market breakthroughs. While much knowledge about the fundamental characteristics of CeO2-based materials has already been acquired, new characterization techniques and powerful theoretical methods are dee...

Fundamentals and Catalytic Applications of CeO2-Based Materials

Metallurgical recovery of metals from electronic waste: a review.

Electrical properties of solid oxide electrolytes

http://crystal.xxn.org.uk/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=the_crystal_world:techniques:waste_manag_res-2007-sheng-380-3.pdf

Recovery of gold from computer circuit board scrap using aqua regia

To energy-efficiently offset our carbon footprint, we herein developed a novel CH4–CO2 dry reforming process to co-produce electricity and CO-concentrated syngas, which takes advantage of the selective oxidation of H2 in high performance proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In these cells, an additional functional layer, consisting of a Ni0.8Co0.2–La0.2Ce0.8O1.9 (NiCo–LDC) composite, was successfully incorporated into the anode support, forming a layered SOFC configuration. The multiple-twinned bimetallic nanoparticles were then proven to have superior activity towards in situ dry reforming. In comparison to the conventional design, this layered SOFC demonstrated drastically improved CO2 resistance as well as internal reforming efficiency (CO2 conversion reached 91.5% at 700 °C), and up to 100 h galvanostatic stability in a CH4–CO2 feedstream at 1 A cm−2. More importantly, H2 was effectively and exclusively converted by electrochemical oxidation, yielding no CO2 but CO concentrated syngas in the anode effluent. The maximum power density exceeded 910 mW cm−2 at 700 °C with a polarization resistance as low as 0.121 Ω cm2. Consequently, the heat released by H2 electrochemical oxidation fully compensated for that required by the extremely endothermic dry reforming reaction, making the entire process thermally self-sufficient. We also showed that the layered design was beneficial in terms of decreasing coking and increasing CO2 resistance of the SOFC in the mixed CO2 and CH4 feedstock. This novel process promises to play a pivotal role in future CO2 conversion and utilization.

Novel layered solid oxide fuel cells with multiple-twinned Ni0.8Co0.2 nanoparticles: the key to thermally independent CO2 utilization and power-chemical cogeneration

Directly utilizing hydrocarbon fuels, particularly methane, is advantageous yet challenging in high-performance protonic ceramic fuel cells. In this work, this technological hurdle is well addressed by selective deposition of secondary electrocatalysts within the porous Ni-cermet anode. This novel strategy sheds light on the development of multifunctional porous structures for energy and catalysis applications.

Anode-Engineered Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell with Excellent Performance and Fuel Compatibility.

This study investigates the affinity of clay minerals in oil sands for the water-continuous tailings and hydrocarbon-continuous froth streams produced from the extraction of bitumen from oil sands. Clay minerals in oil sands processing impact bitumen flotation in separation vessels, emulsion formation during froth treatment, and fine tailings behaviour.



X-ray diffraction of oriented clay slides and random powder samples were used to quantify the clay minerals in the oil sands ore and process streams. Particle size distribution and clay activity balances were also conducted around the extraction process.



The degree of partitioning during the conditioning and flotation stages in a batch extractor was determined by the surface properties of the clay minerals present. The water-continuous tailings stream was further separated into fine and coarse tailings fractions through sedimentation. The bulk of the clay minerals reported to the fine tailings stream. Illite and mixed layered illite-smectite partitioned less to the hydrocarbon-continuous froth than kaolinite. Also, the illite-smectite in the froth stream appeared to be different from the illite-smectite in the water continuous streams.



On a etudie dans ce travail l'affinite des mineraux argileux dans les sables bitumineux pour les courants de residus continus dans l'eau et les courants d’ecume continus dans les hydrocarbures produits par l'extraction de bitume des sables bitumineux. Les mineraux argileux dans le traitement des sables bitumineux ont un impact sur la flottation du bitume dans les cuves de separation, la formation des emulsions lors du traitement de l'ecume et le comportement des residus. La diffraction X de preparation microscopique d'argile orientee et des echantillons de poudres aleatoires ont ete utilises pour quantifier les mineraux argileux dans le minerai de sables bitumineux et les courants de procedes. La distribution de taille des particules et les bilans d'activite de l'argile ont egalement ete determines autour du procede d'extraction. Le degre de separation durant les etapes de conditionnement et de flottation dans un extracteur discontinu a ete determine par les proprietes de surface des mineraux argileux presents. Le courant de residus continus dans l'eau a ensuite ete separe en fractions de residus fins et grossiers par sedimentation. La grande partie des mineraux argileux se retrouve dans le courant de residus fins. L'illite et l'illitesmectite en couches melangees se separent moins de l'ecume continue dans les hydrocarbures que la kaolinite. Par ailleurs, l'illitesmectite dans le courant d'ecume semble etre differente de l'illitesmectite dans les courants d'eau continus.

Thomas H. Etsell

Papers

Electrical properties of solid oxide electrolytes

Recovery of gold from computer circuit board scrap using aqua regia

Novel layered solid oxide fuel cells with multiple-twinned Ni0.8Co0.2 nanoparticles: the key to thermally independent CO2 utilization and power-chemical cogeneration

Anode-Engineered Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell with Excellent Performance and Fuel Compatibility.

Distribution of clay minerals in the process streams produced by the extraction of bitumen from Athabasca oil sands