Simulation of Nonstationary Processes in Solid Electrolyte Electrochemical Cells for the Pulsed Mode of Gas Composition Variations

Studying processes that occur in solid electrolyte electrochemical cells when the working electrode is subjected to an impact of the reactive gas medium are of interest for both their practical application and the understanding of mechanisms of these processes. There are grounds to assume that the methods of studying the processes on electrodes by subjecting the latter to chemical pulses provide more information as compared with the conventional methods based on electric perturbations. A computer simulation of nonstationary processes in a solid electrolyte electrochemical cell of the flow-through kind is carried out. The model of these processes takes into account the transport of electrochemically active components in the gas phase, the kinetics and statics of adsorption of these substances on the gas/electrode interface, and the kinetics of electrode reactions including chemical and charge-transfer stages. Time dependences of concentration fields are calculated as well as the integral characteristics of flows, namely, the oxygen flow from the gas phase to the electrode, the oxygen flow from the electrode to the solid electrolyte, and the flow of the electrochemically active component at the cell outlet.