*Correspondence: Victor M. Orera, CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 10, Zaragoza 50009, Spain e-mail: [email protected] Higher energetic density, better resistance to thermal stresses, and smaller starting times as compared with conventional planar stacks, make the so-called microtubular SOFC (mT-SOFCs with diameters in the millimeter size region) devices suitable for portable applica...

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are able to produce electricity and heat from hydrogen- or carbon-containing fuels with high efficiencies and are considered important cornerstones for future sustainable energy systems. Performance, activation and degradation processes are crucial parameters to control before the technology can achieve breakthrough. They have been widely studied, predominately by...

Considerable attention has been focused on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to their potential for providing clean and reliable electric power. However, the high operating temperatures of current SOFCs limit their adoption in mobile applications. To lower the SOFC operating temperature, we fabricated a corrugated thin-film electrolyte membrane by nanosphere lithography and atomic layer deposi...

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are promising candidates for use in alternative energy technologies. A full understanding of the reaction mechanisms in these dynamic material systems is required to optimize device performance and overcome present limitations. Here, we show that in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to study redox reactions and ionic conductivity in SOFCs in ...

Development of chemically stable proton conductors for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) will solve several issues, including cost associated with expensive inter-connectors, and long-term durability. Best known Y-doped BaCeO3 (YBC) proton conductors-based SOFCs suffer from chemical stability under SOFC by-products including CO2 and H2O. Here, for the first time, we report novel perovskite-type Ba...

developed lOkW class tubular SOFC modules for stationary power generation using Japanese town gas (13A) as fuel. A small module which consisted of 5 stacks (a stack consisted of 2 x 6 cells) generated 1.5kW at 0.2Alcm2 and achieved 55%-LHV efficiency at an average temperature of 900°C. A thermally self-sustaining module consisting of 20 stacks achieved 6.5kW at 0.2A/cm2 and 50%-LHV. relatively ...

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), which can directly convert chemical energy stored in fuels into electric power, represent a useful technology for a more sustainable future. They are particularly attractive given that they can be easily integrated into the currently available fossil fuel infrastructure to realize an ideal clean energy system. However, the widespread use of the SOFC technology is...

SOFCs have the potential to meet the critical energy needs of our modern civilization and minimize the adverse environmental impacts from excessive energy consumption. They are highly efficient, clean and can run on a variety of fuel gases. However, wide adoption of SOFCs is currently hindered by cell durability, manufacturing cost, and lack of fundamental understanding on electrochemical perfo...

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are amongst the most widely used renewable alternative energy systems with near-zero carbon emission, high efficiency, and environment-friendly features. However, operating temperature of SOFCs is still considered a major challenge due to several issues regarding materials’ corrosion, unwanted reactions between layers, etc. Thus, low-temperature (LT-SOFCs) have ga...

Recent developments in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFC) that electrochemically oxidize hydrocarbon fuels to produce electrical power without first reforming them to H2 are described. First, the operating principles of SOFCs are reviewed, along with a description of state-of-the-art SOFC designs. This is followed by a discussion of the concepts and procedures used in the synthesis of direct-oxidati...