The charge and mass transport processes involved in oxygen reduction reactions on a porous mixed-conducting SOFC cathode are complex and difficult to study, making analytical design of porous electrodes difficult. The use of patterned or thin-film electrode configurations is effective to isolate or separate reaction sites or pathways, making it possible to correlate electrochemical performance with electrode geometry, reaction path, or catalytically active sites. We report our recent progress in modeling of thin-film and patterned mixed-conducting electrodes by numerical solution of the continuum electrochemical and transport constitutive equations. This type of modeling allows the effects of multiple processes to be considered, reflecting the complex interdependence of underlying mechanisms. Specifically, we focus on development of multidimensional continuum models for evaluation of triple phase boundary and surface kinetics, sheet resistance effects, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and informed design of experiments.
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