Tubular Metal Support Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Manufacturing and Characterization

Abstract

Tubular metal supported SOFC technology has successfully been developed over the past years with the aim at domestic CHP systems below 3 kWe. The basic cell structure consists of a metal porous support, a protective barrier layer, an anode and an electrolyte cofired at 1350ºC. Cathode and contacting layers are subsequently sintered at lower temperatures. The most significant results to date include successful thermal cycling of the cell and anodic connection during 450 cycles and 2000 hours, oxidation testing of the metal support for more than 2500 hours and a comparison of influence of porosity during 100 hours oxidation of metal porous substrates under high water vapour atmospheres.

The Development of Current Collection in Micro-Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells—A Review

“…However, the operation is typically limited to lower temperatures (550 to 650 • C) to avoid rapid degradation of the metallic components which restricts the use of internal reforming of hydrocarbons, typically occurring above 650 • C. In tubular devices, porous inert supports such as ceramics and metallic supports have been used. This allows for a segmented tubular cell design, essentially stacking cells along a support similar to integrated planar designs [35,36]. The externally supported SOFCs allow thinner electrode layers and electrolytes, incurring lower ohmic and mass transport losses.…”