Thin Film High Power Density Solid Oxide Fuel Cell for Space Use
- Paper number
IAC-05-C3.2.07
- Author
Dr. Alex Ignatiev, University of Houston, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Naijuan Wu, University of Houston, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Xin Chen, University of Houston, United States
- Coauthor
Ms. Laverene Smith, University of Houston, United States
- Year
2005
- Abstract
A thin film solid oxide fuel cells (TFSOFC) with significantly reduced operating temperature has been developed based on thin film deposition and photolithographic possessing. The unique thin film SOFC design incorporates a thin film (<1 micron) oxide electrolyte, deposited on a nickel foil substrate by pulsed laser deposition and MOCVD, and deposition of a micro porous thin film conducting oxide cathode on top of the electrolyte thin film forming the fuel cell heterostructure. The nickel substrate is then made porous (and thus becomes the cell anode) by photolithographic patterning and etching. This thin film SOFC structure results in operating temperatures as low as 450oC, which now allows for the utilization of more standard cell support materials and also result in much reduced thermal stress and thermal degradation. The thin film SOFC has stably operated in a temperature range of 450-570°C, significantly lower than bulk SOFC’s, and has yielded a maximum output power density of 110mW/cm2 at an efficiency greater than 55
- Abstract document