Effects of Lamination Conditions on the Performance of Anode-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) operate at high temperatures and produces electricity and heat energy from fuels in an electrochemical way. Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) composed of a dense electrolyte coated with two porous electrodes on each side is generally constructed on the electrolyte. However, high operation temperatures are required to obtain acceptable performance values due to high electrolyte resistance as a result of the use of thick electrolyte layer as a mechanical support for MEA. Alternatively, the cells can be fabricated as anode-supported where the anode is responsible for supporting the cell mechanically. By doing so, the operation temperature can be lowered due to reduced electrolyte thickness. In this study, the effects of isostatic pressing parameters i.e. temperature and pressure for NiO/YSZ anode support on the anode-supported cell performance and the microstructure of the anode support are investigated. The experimental results reveal that the cell performance is strongly influenced by the pressing parameters. In this aspect, the optimum pressing temperature and pressure are found to be 50 °C and 40MPa, respectively.