With the growing footprint of solid oxide fuel cell stacks, there is a need to extend the operating range of compressible gaskets towards lower stress levels. This article describes a method to manufacture SOFC seals by coating a compressible sealing material (Thermiculite 866) with glass to obtain good sealing performance even at compression stresses as low as 0.1 MPa. Glass layer can be coate...

Materials engineering plays vital role in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology. For example, engineered porous materials are needed to support delicate electrolyte membranes, where mechanical integrity and effective diffusivity to fuel gases is critical; and to construct fuel cell electrodes, where an optimum combination of ionic conductivity, electronic conductivity, porosity and catalyst d...

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...

Recent worldwide interest in building a decentralized, hydrogen-based energy economy has refocused attention on the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) as a potential source of efficient, environmentally friendly, fuel-versatile electric power. Due to its high operating temperature, the SOFC offers several potential advantages over polymer-based fuel cells, including reversible electrode reactions, lo...

Durable, location independent, environmental-friendly sources of energy which allow for modular, few moving parts, low operating noise, high electricity generation efficiency and compact technology are highly desirable. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are promising for such energy system development, since they are energy efficient and, if pure hydrogen is used, have virtually no emissions of gre...

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank the good Lord for supplying His grace to finish this work. The Lord has provided people of excellence to help complete the present thesis. First, I would like to thank my lead research advisor, Dr. Comas Haynes, for loving me as his "academic son." Without Dr. Haynes' love, guidance, and support, this work could not have been completed, nor would...

Spray pyrolysis has been used to prepare La0.6 Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ thin film cathodes for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. The films are polycrystalline with nano-meter sized grains and less than 1 μm in thickness. Deposition parameters for film deposition have been established. The ratio of deposition temperature to solvent boiling point is found to be the most important processing p...

Biogas can be currently considered as an alternative option for electricity production, mainly due to its high energy content (hydrocarbon-rich source), its renewable status and its relatively low utilization cost. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) stacks convert fuel’s chemical energy to electricity with high efficiencies and reveal significant advantages on fuel flexibility combined with lower emi...