Recent Developments in Plasma Sprayed Metal Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells at DLR

Abstract

DLR is working towards developing reliable light weight metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells. Full cells are fabricated on porous metallic substrates by single step, up-scalable, cost-effective plasma spraying. This paper summarized the recent progress of our cells. By incorporating nanostructured materials and alternative plasma spray processing, new generation 500 mW/cm² cells, measured at 0.7 V while operating at 800°C with 0.04 H2 + 0.04 N2 slm/cm² and 0.16 slm/cm² air as fuel and oxidizing gases respectively, were demonstrated. Using a D-optimal design of experiments, YSZ-based electrolytes were improved to provide OCV above 1.1 V. Static electrochemical test for 1500 hours was performed with limited degradation rate. Additionally, these cells exhibited tolerance during cyclic condition, particularly during redox cycling. For small cells, redox and thermal stability was demonstrated for 20 cycles. Up-scaling to larger (90x120 mm²) substrates was successfully achieved.