Manufacture and Electrochemical Test of Short Stacks Based on Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cell at Idaho National Laboratory

Abstract

As the technology of protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (PCEC) emerge for efficient hydrogen production as well as chemical electrosynthesis at reduced operating temperatures (400-600°C), the development of PCEC stack becomes critical to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating current PCEC material system into stacks. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) aims to develop stack manufacturing and electrochemical measurement capability for further enhancing system durability and reducing the overall cost. In this work, the large-scale 5cm×5cm and 10cm×10cm square cells are manufactured by high-temperature roll-to-roll method combining optimized additive manufacturing capability developed in INL. The integration of cells, sealants, current collectors, interconnects and gas manifolds involves significant exploration work of demonstrating high electrolysis performances. Both fuel cell and electrolysis operations are carried out to evaluate the effect of stack components on the performance with goal of achieving >70% performance of button cells. The long-term stability is operated at realistic conditions to assess the stack integration quality for further optimization of sealant materials, cell geometry, interconnect design and operating conditions. This early-stage work can benefit the technical and economic appraise on these new emerging technologies for industry attention and market penetration.