Send article to a friendPrint

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC)

Head: Dr. rer.nat. Günter Schiller

Functional Principle of SOFC

Due to their low sensitivity towards fuels from fossil energy sources and their tolerance against impurities, solid oxide fuel cells are highly suited for the use of hydrocarbons for auxiliary power units (APU) for vehicles as well as for stationary applications. The research group’s work is dedicated to the development of cost-efficient SOFC stacks with high performance and high durability based on metal supported cells. For cell fabrication different coating technologies, e.g. thermal deposition and colloidal spray technologies, are applied. The detailed electrochemical and structural characterisation of cells and stacks as well as the development and use of spatially resolved analytical methods for investigating degradation processes is a focal point of our scientific work.

Development work concentrates on:

• Fabrication of metal supported cells (MSC) and their assembly to stacks exhibiting high mechanical stability and excellent thermal cycling properties
• Development of functional and protective layers for improved performance and durability as well as cost reduction
• Decrease of operating temperature for simplification of system technology
• Electrochemical characterisation of cells and stacks during dynamic operation including I-V characteristics and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)
• Advanced analytical and diagnostic methods to obtain detailed information about the spatial distribution of the electrical, chemical and thermal cell properties by using segmented cell technology and imaging techniques (optical microscopy, 1-dimensional laser Raman spectroscopy, x-ray tomography) in order to elucidate degradation processes
• Multi-scale modelling of cells and lifetime prediction

Numerous test facilities are available in the institute which are applied for the research work but also for external customers:

• Plasma spray and colloidal spray facilities for the fabrication of functional layers using powders and suspensions
• Multiple analytical devices for electrochemical, structural and surface characterisation
• Test benches for functional layers, cells and components
• Test benches for SOFC stacks including impedance spectroscopy
• Test benches for spatially resolved measurements using segmented cells and imaging techniques (Laser Raman spectroscopy, in situ optical microscopy)