Series Connection of Thick-Film (<20 μm) Electrolyte-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

Thick-film electrolyte (<20 μm)-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the advantages of both electrolyte-supported and anode-supported cells due to their thin and self-supporting electrolyte layer. A multicell stacking design using a series connection of thick-film electrolyte-supported cells was adopted to avoid the bipolar plates of planar SOFCs. The cell structure of series-connected electrolyte-supported SOFCs (SES-SOFCs) is similar to the segmented-in-series SOFC design but is based on the self-supporting electrolyte. Two cells with 16 μm thick yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolytes connected in series achieved high performance, i.e., open-circuit voltage of 2.10 V and maximum power density of ∼460 mW/cm 2 at 800°C.