Materials for lower temperature solid oxide fuel cells

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) continues to show great promise for the generation of electricity for an increasing range of applications. The present SOFC technology is based on an all-ceramic design, which eliminates the corrosion problems associated with fuel cells containing liquid electrolytes. To obtain good electrochemical performance with the currently used materials, this all-ceramic fuel cell operates at 1000 degreesC. Despite a significant amount of research and several successful demonstrations at the 100 kW level, commercialisation of the technology is not as rapid as anticipated. This is, in part, due to the high operating temperatures required, necessitating the use of expensive materials. As a result of these problems, there has been an effort over the past few years to lower the SOFC operating temperature. This paper will address the issues concerning the development of new materials that can operate at lower temperatures. Many of these issues have been or are being addressed in the research performed at Argonne National Laboratory, and some recent results will be discussed. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.