Operational and scaling-up barriers of SOEC and mitigation strategies to boost H2 production- a comprehensive review

Abstract

Solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) proffer a flexible and environmentally friendly solution to reduce CO2 emissions and/or produce H2 fuel for various applications. The integration of this technology with renewable energy systems makes them even more promising in realizing a near-perpetual green energy infrastructure in the near future. SOEC technology has achieved stupendous improvement in recent years, and some of the limiting factors to the commercialization of this technology have been explored. It is, therefore, necessary to have a succinct outlook of the different factors that contribute to the recent developments in SOEC technology. The current work presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art SOEC component materials and their degradation mechanisms, SOEC modeling essentials and efficiencies, and the scalability of SOECs. Although SOEC is considered a highly promising technology and sufficient multifaceted research has been done, yet not been widely commercialized. Despite the improvement to mitigate degradation of the SOEC materials, a large share of the degradation concerns sprang from charge transfer reaction at the triple-phase boundaries of the H2-electrode. Part of which can be improved by microkinetic modeling of these materials supported by their characterization to give insight into their development. Some other directions for the future in advancing this technology toward the commercialization stage are thoroughly addressed.