Friday 3 November 2017

Energy of the Future - Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

FMD PhD student, Julia Ramirez Gonzalez gives us an overview of how Solid Oxide Fuel Cells operate and the importance of such materials in meeting future energy production challenges.

Can you imagine our daily life without electricity? Maybe we can deal with it for a couple of hours, but this commodity has become one of the engines of our generation [1]. Nevertheless, the environmental implications of producing energy by fossil fuel combustion, is the driving force to look for more efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives of electricity generation.

Fuel cells are one of the alternatives. These devices generate electricity by an electrochemical reaction of gaseous reactants. One of the reactants is the oxygen in the air, and the other is hydrogen or a hydrocarbon [2]. The configuration of this devices resembles a sandwich. It has two electrodes, one in contact with fuel (anode), and the other in contact with oxygen (cathode): These two interfaces are separated by and electrolyte. There are many types of fuel cells, which are classified by its type of electrolyte, such as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), alkaline (AFC), phosphoric acid (PAFC), molten carbonate (MCFC), and solid oxide (SOFC) [3]. Each type differs in its operation temperatures, useful fuel, efficiency and therefore its applications.

Research on SOFC showed that these materials can work with higher hydrocarbons, giving them the advantage of fuel flexibility. And the most important feature is that all of its components are solid, which avoids the risk of spillages, gives it the freedom for stacking configuration, and it is a quiet system as it does not have any moving parts [2][4] . 

But how does it work? On one side of the cell there is a high concentration of oxygen and on the other side there is none. An electrical potential gradient across the electrolyte is built up. However, the electrolyte does not allow electrons or gas to flow through, but its crystal structure has oxygen vacancies, which allows the migration of oxygen ions. Therefore, at the three-phase boundary, cathode-electrolyte-air, oxygen will be reduced, by obtaining electrons from the cathode [2], Equation 1. 




Eq. 1
Thus, oxygen ions can hop through the electrolyte and can reach the anode-electrolyte-fuel boundary, where the fuel oxidizes; where the products will be steam and electrons, Equation 2 [2].




Eq. 2


If the anode and cathode are connected by an external circuit, the cycle is repeat again as long as the two gases are present, and this is how electricity can be harvested through the external circuit. As shown in the video. 







These devices operate in the temperature range between 500-1000°C, which adds challenges to the material requirements. The materials need to have chemical stability, to avoid reaction with the reactants, a similar thermal expansion coefficient, to reduce the possibility of cracks during cycling; strength and toughness, no one likes a broken device; but also, it has to be easy to fabricate and have a low cost [4].

As you can see there are many requirements, but material scientists like these challenges and have come up with several options.

Yttria-stabilised zirconia is the most widely used as an electrolyte, which is zirconia doped with yttria (Zr1-xYxO2-x/2; x: 0.08). It can also be doped with calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, scandium oxide, neodymium oxide and ytterbium oxide. In addition, cerium oxide doped with samarium (SDC), gadolinium (GDC), and calcium (CDC); lanthanum gallate; bismuth yttrium oxide; barium cerate and strontium cerate, can be also used. The reason of the high operation temperatures of these devices is to promote the oxide ion conduction within the electrolyte [4].

Both electrodes have to be able to distribute the hydrogen and oxygen respectively, serve as catalysts and allow the flow of electrons. Therefore, the anode is a porous ceramic-metallic composite. The metal provides the electronic conduction pathway for the electrons, the ceramic made from the same material as the electrolyte assures a similar thermal expansion coefficient and good compatibility. The popular choice is Ni-YSZ, but there is also Ni-SDC and Ni-GDC [4]. 

For the cathode also a porous structure to allow the flow of gas usually made from a perovskite-type lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM), and lanthanum calcium manganite (LCM); also provides a similar thermal expansion. It is been discovered that by making a composite of perovskite and electrolyte increases the active sites for the electrochemical reactions [4]. 

These electricity generation systems have many possibilities and applications. It can be used as a combined heat and power plant, distributed generation, but also used in remote areas as the generation can be at the point of consumption, reducing the transmission costs. It has an efficiency of ~60% [3]. From an environmental point of view the CO2 emissions will be considerable reduced, Mike Manson an expert in SOFC from Manchester said to The Guardian that a 35% reduction in CO2 emission could be possible using this technology, comparing it with consuming electricity from gas power plant and hot water from a boiler [5]. There is also the idea of a hybrid/gas turbine cycle, to take advantage of the high temperatures of the existing power plants [3]. There are many companies that see the potential of this technology and have and R&D area dedicated to it, as Rolls-Royce and Bloomenergy [6][7]. 

In summary, SOFC are a great alternative for the generation of electricity, further research needs to be done to reduce its operations temperatures, but it represents a step closer to a greener electricity technology era.

[1]          “Key world energy statistics,” Int. Energy Agency, 2017.
[2]          R. J. Kee, H. Zhu, and D. G. Goodwin, “Solid-oxide fuel cells with hydrocarbon fuels,” Proc. Combust. Inst., vol. 30, pp. 2379–2404, 2005.
[3]          D. of Energy, “Comparison of Fuel Cell Technologies | Department of Energy.” [Online]. Available: https://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/comparison-fuel-cell-technologies. [Accessed: 01-Nov-2017].
[4]          A. B. Stambouli and E. Traversa, “Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs): a review of an environmentally clean and efficient source of energy,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 6, pp. 433–455, 2002.
[5]          D. Clark, “Manchester Report: Ceramic fuel cells | Environment | The Guardian,” The Guardian, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/jul/13/manchester-report-fuel-cells. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2017].
[6]          Rolls-Royce, “Rolls-Royce grows global fuel cells capability with US acquisition – Rolls-Royce.” [Online]. Available: http://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2007/rr-grows-global-fuel-cells.aspx. [Accessed: 02-Nov-2017].
[7]          Bloomenergy, “Fuel Cell Energy - Solid Oxide Fuel Cells SOFC | Bloom Energy.” [Online]. Available: http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/solid-oxide/. [Accessed: 02-Nov-2017].



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