Application of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with ceria based electrolyte has often been limited by high cost of electrolyte film fabrication and high electrode polarization. In this study, dense Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 (GDC) thin film electrolytes have been fabricated on hierarchically oriented macroporous NiO-GDC anodes by a combination of freeze-drying tape-casting of the NiO-GDC anode, drop-coating GDC slurry on NiO-GDC anode, and co-firing the electrolyte/anode bilayers. Using 3D X-ray microscopy and subsequent analysis, it has been determined that the NiO-GDC anode substrates have a porosity of around 42% and channel size from around 10 μm at the electrolyte side to around 20 μm at the other side of the NiO-GDC (away from the electrolyte), indicating a hierarchically oriented macroporous NiO-GDC microstructure. Such NiO-GDC microstructure shows a tortuosity factor of ∼1.3 along the thickness direction, expecting to facilitate gas diffusion in the anode during fuel cell operation. SOFCs with such Ni-GDC anode, GDC film (30 μm) electrolyte, and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-GDC (LSCF-GDC) cathode show significantly enhanced cell power output of 1.021 W cm(-2) at 600 °C using H2 as fuel and ambient air as oxidant. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis indicates a decrease in both activation and concentration polarizations. This study has demonstrated that freeze-drying tape-casting is a very promising approach to fabricate hierarchically oriented porous substrate for SOFC and other applications.

a b s t r a c tPolymer matrix composites are widely used in many industries, i.e. aerospace, microelectronics, energy storage etc., because of their unique properties and performance. During their service life, changes of material state caused by deformation and damage accumulation under combined mechanical, thermal and electrical fields requires fundamental understanding to support design of those material systems. Heterogeneous material systems are inherently dielectric as determined by their complex morphology. Dielectric properties of such materials are altered by many factors, e.g., electrical and structural interactions of the particles, and the shape, orientation and distribution of the constituents of the material system. When damage occurs, new phases are created as micro-defects, and grow progressively, interact, and accumulate. The dielectric properties of the composite system also change in a manner that uniquely reflects those details. In the present work we report a non-invasive, in-operando technique to study changes in dielectric properties during progressive damage accumulation in composite materials subjected to mechanical loading.

Heterogeneous materials are inherently dielectric, and charge distribution and transport in such materials involves complex local fields and polarizations that are remarkably sensitive to morphology and the interaction of conduction and permittivity. Trial and error design of such material systems is time consuming and expensive, and often ineffectual. However, heterogeneous materials are essential for energy conversion and storage, and they have become the foundation for major advances in the performance of devices such as batteries, fuel cells, separation membranes, and solar cells. The present paper presents some relationships in support of rational design based on an extensive experimental validation of the concepts and analysis that form a foundation for that design. Salient results include the prediction and confirmation of volume fraction effects (including nondilute mixtures), and the prediction and direct measurement of surface charge effects at internal interfaces as a function of constituent morphology and orientation.

Many of the advanced composite materials used in aerospace, energy storage and conversion, and electrical devices are multifunctional, i.e., they operate on (or in the presence of) some combination of mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, and magnetic fields. Designing composite materials for airplanes, for example, must include not only structural, but also thermal and electrical considerations. Most energy storage and conversion devices are made from advanced composite materials, and they must be designed to interact and sustain their functions in multiple fields, often mechanical, electrical, electrochemical, and thermal. The functional characteristics of such materials are not only controlled by the constituent properties, but are highly dependent on the size, shape, geometry, arrangement, and interfaces between the constituent materials, the extrinsic factors controlled by processing. That is the subject of the present paper. In particular, we will focus on the design of microstructure in heterogeneous materials to manage the dielectric properties and character of such materials.

Abstract. The present paper is concerned with heterogeneous materials in which the