Kevin V. Galloway

Performance Degradation of Microtubular SOFCs Operating in the Intermediate-Temperature Range

Decreasing the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can reduce degradation of cell and stack materials and can reduce the cost of these materials as well through the use of metallic materials. These qualities have motivated the development of microtubular SOFCs for operation in the intermediate temperature range between 450 and 500°C. In this study microtubular SOFCs are fabricated and tested for analysis of start-up behavior and electrochemical properties under various conditions in the intermediate temperature range. Start-up behavior, performance at varying flow rates of fuel, and performance during load cycling is investigated. The impedance spectra and current-voltage performance from individual 1.8 mm diameter, 1.2 cm length microtubular SOFCs are obtained for the intermediate temperature range. The microtubular SOFC investigated is anode-supported, consisting of a NiO and Gd 0.2 Ce 0.8 O 2-x (GDC) cermet anode, thin GDC electrolyte, and a La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3-y and GDC cermet cathode.

Concept, Manufacture and Results of the Microtubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

This paper summarized concept, manufacture and results of the micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The cells were fabricated by co-sintering of extruded micro-tubular anode support and electrolyte coating layer, and then additional cathode coating. The cells showed quick voltage rising within 1 minute, and the electrochemical performances were closely related to the balance of fuel utilization and performance loss. And a thermal-fluid simulation model was also reported in combination with the electrochemical evaluation results on the GDC-based micro-tubular SOFCs.

A Study of GDC-Based Micro Tubular SOFC

In this work, we studied a NiO/GDC-GDC-LSCF micro-tubular SOFC system using saturated hydrogen at 450-550 oC. The systems were electrochemically and mechanically tested using a number of different methodologies, and were modeled using a 2D axial symmetric steady state non-isothermal computational model incorporating radiation heat transfer, flow and species transport.