EPSRC funding awarded for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell research project

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.