Objetivo
Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) operate at high temperature (1050°C) to produce electricity. At this temperature, very expensive ceramic materials or special quality steels are needed for auxiliary equipment such as heat exchangers and piping. New SOFC operating at lower temperatures (600°-850°) can reduce the cost by one order of magnitude with the use of normal steel.
The objective of this project is to develop improved anodes, cathodes and electrolytes for SOFC operating at temperatures between 600°C and 850°C. Real cells (10 cm2) will be fabricated in order to test a selected number of the most promising combinations. The targets are internal resistances not exceeding respectively 0.5 ohm.cm2 at 850°C and 2 ohm.cm2 at 600°C.
Previous EC funded R&D on similar subjects included development of new manufacturing technologies for advanced SOFCs (contract BREU-01-85-C) and development of an advanced 1 kW SOFC prototype (contracts JOUE-CT90-0027-C and JOUE-CT91-0086).
The work in this project is divided into 4 main tasks:
1. New Materials : Preparation and characterization of mainly new cathode and anode materials, and some new electrolytes for the electrochemical reactor.
2. Cell Components : Fabrication, characterization and testing of cell components and half cells.
3. Complete Cells : Fabrication and testing of complete fuel cells.
4. Modelling : Prediction of ionic and electronic conductivity, thermodynamic modelling, i.e. calculation of phase diagrams, and modelling of the electrode/electrolyte interface.
Approximately 80% of the total work will be directed towards SOFC for power production.
Risø National Laboratory is coordinator and is involved in most of the work, i.e. modelling and preparation of new electrode materials, fabrication and testing of half cells and complete cells (>10 cm2). KFA Jülich will do modelling and measurements of thermodynamic properties. ICEHTP, Patras, will study electrocatalytic anodes for the partial oxidation of CH4 to C2 hydrocarbons. TNO will further develop the anode deposition technology using MO-CVD and CVI techniques. NTH/SINTEF will contribute to the development of new cathode materials by searching for and fabricating new potential materials, and by modelling work on electrode behaviour. University of Oslo will contribute to the search for and fabrication of new anode materials including conductivity measurements and other characterization work. Finally, Haldor Topsø A/S will contribute by synthesis and characterization of new powders and materials and fabrication of cell components.
The two targets of the project are to develop SOFCs for operation at low temperatures with a maximum internal resistance of
- 0.5 ohm cm2 operating at max. 850°C, and
- 2 ohms cm2 operating at max. 600°C.