Oxide-ion conducting ceramics for solid oxide fuel cells

Realization of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operating at 700 degreesC on a hydrocarbon fuel or gaseous H-2 is an outstanding technical target. For the past 25 years, efforts to achieve this goal have been based on yttria-stabilized zirconia as the electrolyte, a NiO + electrolyte composite as the anode, a porous La0.85Sr0.15MnO3 (LSM) metallic perovskite as the cathode, and a La1-xSrxCrO3 ceramic as the interconnect material. This paper reviews progress in our laboratory on an alternate approach that would use a Sr- and Mg- doped LaGaO3 perovskite as the electrolyte, a Sm-doped ceria (SDC) as the anode or as a buffer layer with a NiO + SDC composite as the anode, a mixed oxide-ion/electronic conductor (MIEC) as the cathode, and a stainless steel as the metallic interconnect. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.