A comprehensive 3D modelling exploration of a protonic ceramic electrolysis cell stack with metal foam

Protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCECs) offer significant potential for large-scale green hydrogen production. The performance of conventional PCEC stacks is notably limited due to the uneven gas distribution. In this research, a new stack design using metal foam as the gas distributor is proposed and numerically evaluated using a 3D Multiphysics model to improve the gas distribution uniformity. At 1.3 V and 600 °C, the current density of the newly designed PCEC with metal foam is 173 % higher than that of the conventional PCEC. Moreover, the hydrogen production capability of metal foam based PCEC is 234 % higher than that of conventional PCEC, due to the improved gas distribution uniformity and faradaic efficiency (FE) of the new PCEC. The application of metal foam increases steam distribution uniformity by 91.2 %. In a conventional PCEC, the FE under the rib is notably lower than that under the channel. In contrast, the FE distribution is more uniform in a metal foam based PCEC. The improved performance in terms of current density, FE, and distribution uniformity highlights the potential of metal foam as a beneficial component in PCEC stacks. These findings contribute to the understanding and further development of PCEC technology.