Full ceramic micro solid oxide fuel cells: towards more reliable MEMS power generators operating at high temperatures

Abstract

A full ceramic μSOFC integrated in silicon is presented here for the first time, able to operate up to 750 °C.

Three-dimensional printed yttria-stabilized zirconia self-supported electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cell applications

“…Activation energies of 0.78±0.05 eV for T>560 °C and 1.03±0.03 eV for lower temperatures have been fitted, while the ionic conductivity showed values of 0.011 S/cm at 800 °C and 0.022 S/cm at 900 °C. According to previous studies [29][30][31][32], this dual behavior can be fully explained by the defect dissociation-migration energy model. After proving that the printed 3YSZ membrane presents the typical behavior of the same type of layers fabricated by traditional methods, the membrane was evaluated as electrolyte in full cells (Ni-YSZ/YSZ/YSZ-LSM) operating under typical conditions, namely, water saturated pure hydrogen and synthetic air in the anode and cathode sides, respectively.…”

Sandwiched ultra-thin yttria-stabilized zirconia layer to effectively and reliably block reduction of thin-film gadolinia-doped ceria electrolyte

“…In fact, it appears that there are increasing numbers of reports about doped ceria functioning as an anode material. 13), 14) The impedance suppressed by the current density increase was considered to be originated by the chemical capacitance, which was observed in a LSC-GDC composite cathode study as well. 15) Further study is under progress to elucidate the electrode reaction mechanism related to GDC directly exposed to the anode side and will be reported.…”

Micro solid oxide fuel cells: a new generation of micro-power sources for portable applications

“…When the film thickness is of the order of the Pt particle size, the electrolyte ionic resistance does not scale linearly with the electrolyte thickness but can saturate, leading to a decreasing of the benefits of nanometric membranes 45 . The use of electroceramic MIEC electrodes can provide a solution to both these problems 3 . Porous ceramic thin films can be easily deposited by PLD at high oxygen partial pressure 19 .…”

“…For instance, Garbayo et al 3 developed a novel microfabrication method to obtain enlarged and more robust electrolyte membranes by using a grid of doped-silicon slabs as mechanical support. In addition, a metallic heater can be adapted to this doped-silicon nerves to instantly heat the membrane in a homogeneous mode.…”

“…Their reduced size, longer life time, high power density and possibility of integration make μSOFC very attractive. Until now, the development of μSOFC has been mainly based on the fabrication of self-supported membranes supported on microfabricated substrates [2][3][4] . Lately, alternative designs based on the use of porous substrates have also shown very promising results 5 .…”