Progress in metal-supported solid oxide electrolysis cells: A review

Abstract

There is increasing global interest in using solid oxide electrochemical cells to perform electrolysis. Metalsupported solid oxide electrolysis cells (MS-SOEC) are being developed with stainless steel and Ni-based supports. The use of porous metal to support the electrochemically-active layers is anticipated to improve mechanical strength, decrease cost, and increase tolerance to aggressive operating conditions, including rapid thermal excursions. This review summarizes and analyzes the previous decade of progress in MS-SOEC development, and identifies critical needs for future work.

Main Hydrogen Production Processes: An Overview

“…In solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC), a solid oxide or ceramic is used as electrolyte; at the cathode side hydrogen is produced from water (17), while the oxygen ions generated, across the electrolyte, reach the anode (16) where they are oxidized to produce oxygen: The solid oxide electrolysis cells typically operate in the temperature range 500-900 • C [177], which provides a crucial benefit over proton exchange membrane (PEM) and alkaline exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzers, which operate at a maximum of 100 • C. Unfortunately, the degradation of SOEC is the major limitation to the commercial viability, the aggressive humid condition in the air electrode side, is still a concern to the stability of electrolysis cells [178]. Typically, Ni/yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni/YSZ) electrodes are used [179], however agglomeration of Ni nanoparticles, low water vapor transmission efficiency and poor durability are serious issues [180].…”

Hydrogen Generation Using Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells

“…However, the disadvantage of using Ni-BCZYbased materials stems from poor redox stability and reduced mechanical integrity, which is similar to the case in oxide-conducting SOEC. Therefore, metal-supported H-SOEC has been proposed to provide better mechanical stability [49]. Tucker et al [50] fabricated the metal-supported H-SOEC with BCZY electrolyte for the electrolysis of water at low temperatures and discovered that the incorporation of stainless-steel diffusion barrier prevented the migration of Si and hence improved the mechanical integrity.…”

“…However, the disadvantage of using Ni‐BCZY‐based materials stems from poor redox stability and reduced mechanical integrity, which is similar to the case in oxide‐conducting SOEC. Therefore, metal‐supported H‐SOEC has been proposed to provide better mechanical stability 49. Tucker et al.…”

Progress and prospects of reversible solid oxide fuel cell materials

“…Among them, SOEC-based high-temperature (co)electrolysis technology can use the surplus electric energy from nuclear reactors and renewable energy as well as the waste heat from production and life to convert water vapor/carbon dioxide into hydrogen/carbon monoxide with high efficiency (Ghezel-Ayagh, 2021). At the same time, nuclear energy and renewable energy are stored in the form of chemical energy (Cao, 2020;Hauch et al, 2020;Lee et al, 2018;Lenser et al, 2020;Tazds et al, 2020;Tucker, 2020;Wang et al, 2020a;Zheng et al, 2017). The SOFC-based high-temperature power generation technology or combined heat and power technology can efficiently convert the chemical energy in the stored hydrogen/carbon monoxide into clean electricity and heat, which can be used as distributed energy for community houses, buildings, and corporate data centers (Bao et al, 2018;Beigzadeh et al, 2021;Hussain et al, 2019;Medvedev et al, 2016;Nakao et al, 2019;Ouyang et al, 2020).…”