Study On The Performances Of Single-Chamber Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Single-chamber solid oxide fuel cell (SC-SOFC) is a novel type fuel cell which can be understood as Fuel Cells with only one gas compartment (thus,"single chamber"). In conventional Fuel Cells of any type, the oxidant and the fuel are usually separated by a gas tight electrolyte. The cell has two gas chambers. The operation of a SC-SOFC relies on the selectivity of the cathode and the anode which are both exposed to the same gas mixture of fuel and air. In SC-SOFC, the anode needs to be selective for the oxidation of the fuel whereas the cathode needs to exhibit selective reduction of oxygen and inertness to the fuel. The generation of an open circuit voltage (OCV) is due to the difference of catalytic activity. The research in cell structure, electrode materials and parameters that influence the cell's performances are of great interest.SC-SOFC offers following advantages: no micro sealing between anode and cathode is necessary; complex flow field structures can be eliminated; a variety of geometries apart from planar and tubular known from conventional fuel cells is possible; electrolyte must not be gas tight, and fully porous cells can be fabricated; the design of small scale stacks is easy. In this dissertation, we systematically investigated the properties of single cell of SC-SOFC. For SC-SOFC stacks, we have done some experiments and stacks tests on the feasibility that are basal work future investigation.The properties of single cell of electrolyte supported and anode supported SC-SOFC and the test conditions of single chamber were researched. The results showed that anode must be reduced thoroughly before testing. It was necessary to make anode thicker for electrolyte supported SC-SOFC. The impedance of anode...