Microporous and Thin Film Membranes for Solid Oxide Fuel

One of the major limitations to the commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells is the expense of fabricating the required (anode/electrolyte/cathode) cells (currently planar or tubular). The current technology being employed by most of the producers of solid oxide fuel cells is essentially all the same in that it involves standard ceramic processing to make composite structures (either electrolyte or electrode supported). Each investigator/program has their own individual processing steps to produce the cells, but in the end, they all make these cells in a very similar manner. As a result only limited progress has been made towards cost reductions over the last 2-3 decades. It is our contention that major changes in the processing of cells need to be made before SOFCs can become economically feasible