Achievement

A materials engineering student William Gathright has pursued his interdisciplinary topic of phase field modeling of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). This research has brought together two previously unrelated topics: phase field models used primarily in metallurgical theory and EIS, an electrochemical diagnostic technique. This numerical simulation applied this new model to gain fundamental insights into the nature of phenomena such as electrochemical capacitance and constant-phase element behavior. For the first time in phase field modeling, chemical reactions have been incorporated. Ultimately, the model will be used in an electrochemical model that accounts for microstructural effects on fuel cell performance.