Metal-Supported SOFC with Ceramic-Based Anode

Abstract

Metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells have shown promise to offer several potential advantages over conventional anode (Ni-YSZ) supported cells, such as increased resistance against mechanical and thermal stresses and a reduction in materials cost. The purpose of this work is to illustrate how the metal-supported cell concept can be combined with ceramic-based anode materials, such as Nb-doped SrTiO3. The paper shows that a metal-supported cell can have excellent performance by only having electronically conducting phases in the anode backbone structure, into which electrocatalytically active materials are infiltrated after sintering. Initial area specific resistance as low as 0.3 Ωcm2 at 700 ºC has been obtained with power densities > 1 Wcm-2. The initial results on the chemical compatibility, electrochemical performance, and galvanostatic durability of a ceramic based (Nb-doped SrTiO3), zirconia-free anode, in a planar metal-supported SOFC concept is discussed.