Abstract
An increased growth in demand for energy accompanied by efforts to limit its negative impact on the environment is forcing society to seek new, more efficient energy sources. Fuel cells are one of the most promising solutions among the widely developed new generation of electrical generators. Fuel cells directly convert chemical fuel into electricity. Water and waste heat are by-products of fuel cell operation. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have proven to be one of the most interesting solutions among the five types of technologically advanced fuel cells, for their ability to operate at temperatures above 800°C. Furthermore, SOFCs are characterized by other advantages in comparison to PEMFCs, including: (1) no need to use expensive catalysts (e.g. platinum, the price of which is high, and its resources limited), (2) the possibility of direct, internal conversion of hydrocarbon fuels, (3) lower sensitivity to contaminants (in particular, hydrogen fuel containing CO, which is useful for SOFCs instead of the platinum catalyst poisoners), and (4) the possibility of using waste heat in a gas turbine, or for heating or other industrial purposes. The paper discusses selected issues regarding the construction and characteristics of planar solid oxide fuel cells. Selected results of the following electrochemical investigations: Ba0.9 Ca0.1 Ce0.9 Y0.1 O3 -based proton electrolyte as possible components of SOFCs operating at intermediate temperature range (500-700°C).
Highlights
A fuel cell (FC) is a type of a galvanic cell, along with primary cells, electrochemical accumulator batteries, and flow-through accumulators
The most rapid technological development can be observed for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)
Ceramic shaped parts in these sizes are very often offered by well-known fuel cell manufacturers as a reference for tests of single Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) [22,23]
Summary
A fuel cell (FC) is a type of a galvanic cell, along with primary cells, electrochemical accumulator batteries, and flow-through accumulators. As in any galvanic cells, what occurs in an FC is a direct (single-stage) conversion of chemical fuel energy into electricity (and waste heat). Larger stacks of fuel cells (approximately 250‒1000 W) can serve as power sources for electric motors for unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Even larger fuel cells (1‒200 kW) are being built for application in cars and small planes. Stationary units, with power in megawatts [8,9,10,11,12,13], have been commercialised for phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs), whereas the development of PEMFCs and SOFCs remains consistently at the level of advanced prototype units
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