Diagnosis of scale up issues associated with planar solid oxide fuel cells

One of the most important challenges faced by SOFC technology towards the commercialisation lies in the issues related to scale up. In this work, root cause analysis of performance loss in scaled up (1:50) SOFC is carried out. Reduction in actual contact area (6.7% on cathode and 2.5% on the anode) between the metallic interconnects and the cell, and non-uniformity of reactant distribution, are found to play critical roles towards the poor performance of the scaled up cell. Finally, suggestions are made to sustain the performance during the scale up.

► Issues associated with the scale up of planar solid oxide fuel cells are discussed.
► During scale up of the coupon cell severe drop in the performance is experienced.
► Performance drop is dominated by contact resistances at the interfaces.
► It is observed that the clamping force used for stacking is insufficient.
► CFD analysis confirms the non-uniform gas distribution on the anode side.