A fuel cell operating at 823 Kelvin—hot enough to melt aluminium—slowly destroys itself through a cascade of chemical changes at its internal surfaces, and no one can yet tease apart which process causes which failure. Energy devices like batteries, fuel cells, and electrolysers are built from multiple solid layers, and their performance depends on the chemistry at the interfaces between those layers—solid/solid, liquid/solid, or gas/solid. These interfaces are also where degradation begins. Current analysis methods require removing the device and examining it in a vacuum after it has failed, which misses the dynamic, interrelated processes happening during real operation. Temperature gradients, cation segregation, potential gradients, and poisoning all occur simultaneously, and separating their individual contributions has so far proved impossible. This project aims to develop *in-operando* characterisation techniques—measuring what happens at interfaces while the device is actually running. If successful, it will provide a detailed mechanistic understanding of how and why energy materials degrade. That knowledge could directly inform the design of longer-lasting fuel cells, solid-state batteries, and permeation membranes, improving the reliability and lifespan of energy storage and conversion systems that underpin the electricity grid and low-carbon transport.
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'Energy materials' encompass a wide range of technologies, ranging from thermoelectrics to fuel cells, batteries, photovoltaics and magnetocalorics, among others. Many of these energy materials are developed as multi-component solid state devices and these devices inherently possess a number of electrochemically active interfaces. It is these interfaces, e.g. solid/solid, liquid/solid or gas/solid, that control the function of the device, and are typically the source of degradation. Many current techniques used to analyse these devices and their components rely on idealised systems in high vacuum environments to gain information on the near surface chemistry. This necessitates the use of post-mortem operation analysis and clearly represents a significant mismatch from the conditions under which devices operate. Increasingly it is acknowledged that in-operando measurements are required, but that the measurements are themselves difficult and demanding. It is our intention to develop expertise with in-operando characterisation of energy materials. This will build on our existing expertise and capability in surface analysis and in-situ measurements. As an example, a fuel cell operating at 823K will be subjected to temperature gradients, cation segregation, potential gradients, poisoning and chemical changes induced by these conditions, all of which are inter-related, but separating the individual contributions has so far proved impossible. Similar issues involving the interface and surface chemistry of solid state batteries, permeation membranes and co-electrolysers will also be addressed using these techniques. By developing in-operando correlative characterisation we aim to deconvolute these processes and provide detailed mechanistic understating of the critical processes in a range of energy systems.
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