Electrochemical performance of cone-shaped anode-supported segmented-in-series SOFCs fabricated by gel-casting technique

Cone-shaped tubular anode substrates were prepared successfully by using gel-casting technique. An 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte film was coated onto the green body of the anode by dip-coating technique and then the bilayer was co-sintered at 1350 °C for 4 h. La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSM)–YSZ was brush painted on the surface of the YSZ film as cathode. Such a single NiO-YSZ/YSZ/LSM-YSZ fuel cell was tested from 600 to 800 °C with humidified hydrogen (3%H2O, 100 mL/min) as fuel and ambient air as oxidant. Initial results showed that at 800 °C the open circuit voltage (OCV) approached 1.0 V and the maximum power density was 900 mW cm−2. The impedance measurements measured under open circuit condition revealed that at 800 °C the ohmic resistance of the cell was 0.1 Ω cm2 and the electrode polarization resistance was 0.4 Ω cm2. -cell-stack based on the above-mentioned cone-shaped tubular anode-supported SOFC was assembled and tested. The OCV and maximum output power at 800 °C were 3.2 V and 3.4 W, respectively.