11310122 朱徐成
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell(SOFC) belongs to the third generation fuel cell, which is considered as one of the most popular fuel cells. The character of high efficiency, zero pollution, wide adaptation and modular assembly make it occupy a part of the energy material market.
The working progress in the developed country is extensively and profoundly. The German company Siemens Westinghouse Power has produced a cylinder structure battery pack which can avoid the problem about seal under the high temperature, reaching the goal of 300kW level. British company Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell System Ltd also produced the supporting type of SOFC in planar structure and wanted to achieve the goal of 105kW. Recently prototype of a 250 kW class SOFC-MGT hybrid system was operated at Tokyo Gas Senju Techno Station. This system was very stable without voltage degradation at the rated for 4,100 hours.
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The structure of the tubular structure SOFC
The structure of the planar structure SOFC
Anyway, SOFC is a type of high efficiency, environmental friendly and high working temperature fuel cell. It can fit various kinds of fuel gas but don’t need precious metal catalyst. SOFC can supply the waste heat in a high quality, which can improve the use ratio of the fuel. And its modular assembly character makes it flexible during th Fuel Cell Research Centre in HUST has developed the 5 kW level SOFC generating system independently, which means our country has meet the requirement of industrialization and engineering progress.
In theory, one SOFC cell can support 1.2V voltage. So in order to fit the need of the actual application which needs thousands or millions watt level to generate electricity, the cells should be connected by methods.
In the SOFC, there are main four parts: electrolyte、anode or fuel electrode、cathode or air electrode and interconnect or bipolar separator. There are mostly two types of electrolyte: the single doped and mixed doped The metal which fits SOFC as the anode lists like Ni, Co, Pt, Ru. Some metals like Pb, Pt, Rh and cermet, oxide which has the perovskite structure and some Ru oxide can be made as the cathode material. The interconnect material works as the connection device and also separate the fuel gas on the anode side and the oxidizing gas on the cathode side.
To sum up, SOFC has large potential in supporting electricity for civil use and in mobile use. Energy and environmental problems benefit the development of SOFC. The efficiency and the working environment are the enormous advantage for SOFC, which means SOFC can take a large part in the energy market. But SOFC also has its own challenge, including methane reforming, ohmic resistance of the electrolyte and electrode overpotentials at reduced temperature. Also the low temperature SOFC will be another potential fuel cell.