Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Concert Hall in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree.

Part I: Electrochemical and X-ray Characterization of Solid-Oxide Electrolysis Cell Oxygen Electrodes on Electrolyte Substrates--The governing reaction mechanisms, and the electrode and electrolyte material compositions and structures, that controls the efficiency and durability of the solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) need to be identified and well-understood for a significant improvement in nuclear hydrogen production using high temperature steam electrolysis. ANL conducted experimental analysis of SOEC electrolyte and electrodes to progress in this objective. Our study on the oxygen electrode focused on specifically the effect of electrode crystal structure on its electrochemical performance, and the evolution of the electronic and structural properties of the electrodes while under electrochemical conditions and high temperature. We found through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiments that, while different crystal orientations in La{sub 0.8}Sr{sub 0.2}MnO{sub 3+d} (LSM) show different initial performance and different electrochemical activation under SOEC conditions, a good mixed ionic electronic conductor La{sub 0.8}Sr{sub 0.2}CoO{sub 3+d} (LSC) does not seem to exhibit similar variations. Our in-situ x-ray and electrochemical measurements at the Advanced Photon Source of ANL have identified the chemical states of the A-site elements of the doped lanthanum manganite electrodes. We found that the changes in the concentration and in the electronic state of …