Electrolyte thickness control and its effect on electrolyte/anode dual-layer hollow fibres for micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cells

As an effective effort in improving the performance of electrolyte/anode dual-layer hollow fibres (HFs) for micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), high quality dual-layer HFs with controllable electrolyte layer thickness have been developed in this study by adjusting fabrication parameters of a single-step co-extrusion and co-sintering process. Uniform and defect-free outer electrolyte layer from 70 to 10 μm can be achieved when the extrusion rate is reduced from 5 to 0.5 ml min−1. Although the bending strength and the gas-tightness properties are reduced slightly with the decrease in electrolyte layer thickness, significant improvement in power output of the cell is achieved. Power density as high as 1.11 W cm−2 is obtained on the cell with the electrolyte layer of 10 μm in thickness, which is 114% higher than the one with an electrolyte layer of 65 μm.

Research highlights▶ HFs with different electrolyte thickness are developed by co-extrusion/co-sintering. ▶ Electrolyte thickness of 10–70 μm is achieved when the extrusion rate is varied. ▶ Power density of 1.11 W cm−2 is obtained by the cell with 10 μm electrolyte thickness.