Suspensions of ytterbium disilicate in isopropanol were prepared using iodine dispersant. Their zeta potential, electrical conductivity, and pH dependence with iodine concentration is detailed. Electrophoretic deposition was performed on silicon substrates at various voltages (100-200 V) and times (until 10 minutes) and the growth dynamic was investigated. It was observed that the deposited mass reaches a maximum value for [I 2 ] = 0.2 g/L, and the coating microstructure becomes porous at higher iodine concentrations. Current density and voltage measurements allowed to correlate this behavior to the increase of free protons concentration in the suspension. In these conditions, it was proved that porosity increases with the increase in applied voltage, and a compaction occurs as the deposition time increases. This has been related to the coating resistance increase and subsequent decrease in effective voltage in the suspension. The denser coatings (20% of porosity) were obtained in the case of suspension without iodine, at the minimum applied voltage and for the longest deposition times.

A multiscale model has been used to optimize the microstructure of a classical hydrogen electrode made of nickel and yttria‐stabilized zirconia (Ni‐8YSZ). For this purpose, a 3D reconstruction of a reference electrode has been obtained by X‐ray nano‐holotomography. Then, a large dataset of synthetic microstructures has been generated around this reference with the truncated Gaussian random field method, varying the ratio Ni/8YSZ and the Ni particle size. All the synthetic microstructures have been introduced in a multiscale modeling approach to analyze the impact of the microstructure on the electrode and cell responses. The local electrode polarization resistance in the hydrogen electrode, as well as the complete cell impedance spectra, have been computed for the different microstructures. A significant performance improvement was found when decreasing the Ni particle size distribution. Moreover, an optimum has been identified in terms of electrode composition allowing the minimization of the cell polarization resistance. The same methodology has been also applied to assess the relevance of graded electrodes. All these results allow a better understanding of the precise role of microstructure on cell performances and provide useful guidance for cell manufacturing.