A novel two-part interconnector for solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

SUMMARY A two-part interconnector is developed for solid oxide fuel cell stacks to reduce cost and to improve sealing. The novel interconnector involves a metallic core for current collection and gas distribution and a ceramic support to house the metallic core and to separate two short stacks. The new interconnector reduces usage of expensive metallic alloys and substantially reduce mismatch between stack components due to higher expansion coefficient of metals. The new interconnectors also improve sealing with glass–ceramics eliminating chromium evaporation which is a major reason for sealing failure in fully metallic interconnectors. A proof of concept short stack is manufactured and tested in this study. A comparable performance with a convectional interconnector is obtained with new interconnector, while substantially improving the sealing quality. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.