Towards Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) with Proton Conducting Electrolytes Operating at Low Temperature: Is the Scale-up Feasible?

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are an efficient and environmental-friendly alternative to combustion engines for supplying power. There is at present a keen interest on SOFCs in China with the government supporting a number of commercialization initiatives with large grants. However, their high operating temperatures and cost hampers their broad use and causes long-term stability problems. A step forward towards reducing the SOFC working temperature at 600°C or below can be the use of high temperature proton conductor (HTPC) oxides as electrolytes, due to their lower activation energy for proton conduction (0.3-0.6 eV), with respect to oxygen-ion conducting electrolytes. We have recently made significant progresses in the development of chemically-stable HTPC electrolytes and cathode materials associated, by using Y-doped barium zirconate (BZY). In this talk, after an introduction reporting an overview of the state-of-the-art of SOFC research in China, the recent work performed in our group toward the prospective commercialization of SOFC based on chemically stable proton conducting electrolyte will be presented.