Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with porous cathode and anode layers.

ZEISS Imaging Solutions for Pore Characterization

Investigate your microstructure to understand your macrostructure

Although the applications vary, types of materials often display a common theme: an intimate link between porous microstructure and material performance. This link can be found, for example, in the detailed liquid or gas transport through an interconnected pore network, or in the physical response of a porous material to a compressive or tensile force. Frequently, material performance can be quite sensitive to its discrete, complex pore structure thereby motivating the need to investigate and understand the morphology of these materials at the appropriate pore scale.
_{The image to the left is showing a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with porous cathode and anode layers.}

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Examine material interfaces, surface defects and topography
Perform microstructural analysis, cross-sectional composition analysis or non-destructive analysis
Unlock the power to engineer new polymers and chemicals material properties

Applications

ZEISS high resolution light, electron and X-ray imaging and compositional analysis solutions provide you with multiscale insight that can drive improvements in materials development, and your grasp of complex failure mechanisms.

Carbon gas diffusion layer fibers and microporous layer material Image courtesy of Aalen University — Image courtesy of Aalen University
Carbon gas diffusion layer fibers and microporous layer material from polymer electrolyte fuel cell. Imaged with Xradia 810 Ultra (sample width 97 µm).

Carbon gas diffusion layer fibers and microporous layer material from polymer electrolyte fuel cell. Imaged with Xradia 810 Ultra (sample width 97 µm).

3D rendering of FIB-SEM volume of organic hosted porosity from subsurface onshore US shale, imaged using 2.5 x 2.5 x 5 nm voxels. Kerogen hosted porosity is shown in blue, kerogen in red, quartz in green and pyrite in yellow.

PEFC Catalyst Layer showing porosity and connected pore space. Sample courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

Solid Foam — High resolution X-ray tomography can differentiate solid and pore phases, and enable measurement of common microstructural properties such as porosity, specific surface area, pore tortuosity, etc.

High resolution X-ray tomography can differentiate solid and pore phases, and enable measurement of common microstructural properties such as porosity, specific surface area, pore tortuosity, etc.

Porous Polymer fluid flow — Dr. Manohar V. Badiger, National Chemical Laboratory, India
Very soft porous polymer with urethane backbone. High contrast imaging of low Z materials in situ with varying temperatures and compression. Simulation of fluid flow demonstrates absolutely permeability of sample., XRM

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Numerous modern engineering challenges involve the design and control of porous structures over a range of length scales. Applications for such engineered porous materials cover a broad spectrum, ranging from biological scaffolds to electrochemical devices to membranes and heat exchangers.

Unlock the power to engineer new polymers and chemicals material properties for the 21st century and beyond.

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White Paper Collection: Microscopy Solutions for Pore Characterization

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What are the individual papers about?

Non-destructive 3D analysis of Engineered Porous Media

ZEISS Xradia Multi-lengthscale 3D X-ray Microscopes (Application Note)

Applications note describing the use of non-destructive 3D X-ray microscopy to study porous media over a range of length scales, from submicron to nanometers, and including biological scaffolds, electrochemical devices, membranes, heat exchangers and any other material with a porous microstructure.

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Pore Network Modeling of Marcellus Shale

Application Note

This Application Note is about Pore Network Modeling of Marcellus Shale using Digital Rock Analysis with Machine Learning Image Segmentation

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Investigating Sweet Spot Imaging of Perovskite Catalysts Bearing Exsolved Active Nanoparticles

White Paper

Sweet spot imaging, high-resolution imaging at low keV, using Gemini electron optics with Inlens SE and ESB technology. Observing nanoparticle decoration and better understanding the structure and morphology of nanoparticles. The paper provides more information on the subsurface and morphologically distinct regions of interest

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ZEISS Microscopy Solutions

for Polymers and Chemicals Research.

In this infographic you will get an overview of the applications that ZEISS Microscopy offers solutions for.

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ZEISS Microscopy Solutions for Oil & Gas

Understanding reservoir behavior with pore scale analysis

The flow of oil and gas through subsurface reservoirs is governed by the scale of the tiny, tortuous pathways in the rock through which flow occurs. While frequently the fundamental pore, grain and mineralogical structures can be understood at these tiny scales, this often comes at the expense of a field of view representative of real geological structures. These structures can exhibit heterogeneity ranging from the kilometer to the nanometer scales. The ZEISS portfolio of light, X-ray, electron and ion microscopes is uniquely capable of solving these multiscale and multi-physics challenges, fusing, integrating and correlating data together and even observing reservoir processes directly in situ. This enables, for the first time, all pore scale information to be acquired based on macroscopic heterogeneity, and all the resulting insights to be directly and quantitatively upscaled to the core plug and whole core scales.

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