EPSRC funding has been awarded to Professor Peter Slater and Dr. Paul Anderson for the research project 'Reinventing the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell: Towards 200oC operation'.
There is currently huge interest in the development of fuel cells as a result of their high efficiencies for converting chemical energy directly into electrical energy. The two systems attracting the most interest are polymer fuel cells (operating <100○C) and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (operating 500-1000○C). The latter offer significant benefits in terms of fuel flexibility and cheaper (non-precious metal) electrode materials, but suffer from slow start-up/shut down times, associated with the high temperature operation.
In this proof of concept study a new approach to solid oxide fuel cell design will be developed to allow operation at temperatures between 100-350○C, with a specific target to operate at 200○C, to overcome such issues and deliver the next generation of solid oxide fuel cell systems.