Solid oxide fuel cells fabrication techniques

Simner SP, Stevenson JW, Meinhardt KD, and Canfield NL. Development of fabrication techniques and electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells. In Yokokawa H, Singhal SC, editors. Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel cells (SOFC-VII), Pennington, NJ The Electrochemical Society, 2001 2001(16) 1051-1060. 

Hui R, Wang Z, Yick S, Marie R, and Ghosh D. Fabrication of ceramic films for solid oxide fuel cells via slurry spin coating technique. J. Power Sources 2007 172 840-844. 

The present availabihty of numerous types of solid electrolytes permits transport control of various kinds of mobile ionic species through those solid electrolytes in solid electrochemical cells, and permits electrochemical reactions to be carried out with the surrounding vapor phase to form products of interest. This interfacing of modem vapor deposition technology and solid state ionic technology has led to the recent development of polarized electrochemical vapor deposition (PEVD). PEVD has been applied to fabricate two types of solid state ionic devices, i.e., solid state potenfiometric sensors and solid oxide fuel cells. Investigations show that PEVD is the most suitable technique to improve the solid electrolyte/electrode contact and subsequently, the performance of these solid state ionic devices. 

Empirical development of the nickel-zirconia anode over several decades has led to solid oxide fuel cells with adequate service life and performance, but fuel reforming is still required to operate with commercially available hydrocarbon fuels. It has become evident that the anode reactions are dominated by the three-phase boundary and that the microstructure of the composite cermet anodes is pivotal. Consequently, the processing methods used for making the anode powders, and the fabrication techniques used for deposition on the electrolyte are critical in making high performance anodes. Anode-supported cells with very thin electrolyte films are becoming interesting for operation at lower temperatures. 

Negishi, H., Sakai, N., Yamaji, K., Horita, T. and Yokokawa, H. (1999), Fabrication of small tubular SOFCs by electrophoretic deposition technique, Proc. of the Sixth International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-VI), Eds. S.C. Singhal and M. Dokiya, pp. 885-892, The Electrochemical Soc. Inc., Pennington, NJ, USA. 

Othman, M.H.D. et al., Novel fabrication technique of hollow fibre support for microtubular solid oxide fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources, 2011.196( 11) 5035-5044. Othman, M.H.D. et al., Dual-layer hollow fibres with different anode stmctuies for micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources, 2012. 205 272-280. 

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