Modeling Electrochemical Oxidation of Hydrogen on Ni–YSZ Pattern Anodes

A computational model is developed to represent the coupled behavior of elementary chemistry, electrochemistry, and transport in the vicinity of solid-oxide fuel cell three-phase boundaries. The model is applied to assist the development and evaluation of charge-transfer reaction mechanisms for Ni–yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) anodes. Elementary chemistry and surface transport for the Ni and YSZ surfaces are derived from prior literature. Previously published patterned-anode experiments [ J. Mizusaki et al. , Solid State Ionics , 70/71 , 52 (1994) ] are used to evaluate alternative electrochemical charge-transfer mechanisms. The results show that a hydrogen-spillover mechanism can explain the Mizusaki polarization measurements over wide ranges of gas-phase composition with both anodic and cathodic biases.