FUEL UTILIZATION IN SINGLE CHAMBER SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL WITH POROUS ELECTROLYTES

摘要

The applicability of a porous electrolyte in a single chamber solid oxide fuel cell (SC-SOFC) has been investigated using a cell which consists of a 18 μm thick Y doped ZrO_2 (YSZ) porous electrolyte on a NiO-YSZ anode substrate and a (La, Sr)(Co, Fe)O_3 cathode. The cell test was conducted in a flowing of air-methane gas mixture. The results showed that the open circuit voltage and the power density increased as the gas flow rate increased. The cell generated an open circuit voltage of about 0.75 V and a maximum power density ～0.66 W cm~(-2) (@0.44 V) at furnace set temperature = 606°C(cell temperature = 774°C). The open circuit voltage was only about 0.1 V lower than that observed with dense electrolyte specimens, which indicate that a porous ion conducting membrane may provide sufficient separation of oxygen activity at the electrodes to make a useful fuel cell.