A novel microstructured metal-supported solid oxide fuel cell

•Novel metal-supported solid oxide fuel cell design for mobile applications.•The proposed honeycomb microstructure allows saving about 65% of metallic material.•The SOFC anode is inside of the interconnect layer, in honeycomb cells.•This novel MSC exhibits performances of 300 W cm−2 at 850 °C under pure H2.

An innovative design, alternative to the conventional metal supported fuel cells (MSC) is proposed. This new design of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), comprises a 200 μm layer of a honeycomb-metallic framework with hexagonal cells which supports a 250 μm layer of electrolyte. Each hexagonal cell is further functionalized with a thin 5–10 μm of Ni–YSZ anode. This new design allows a reduction of ∼65% of the metallic supporting material, rendering performances over 300 mW cm−2 under pure hydrogen at 850 °C, with an OCV of ∼1.1 V.