State of the art ceria-carbonate composites (3C) electrolyte for advanced low temperature ceramic fuel cells (LTCFCs)

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are considered as one of the most promising power-generation technologies. However, the current high operation temperature (800–1000 °C) of SOFCs impedes their commercialization significantly. A key requirement for reducing the operation temperature of SOFCs is to improve the performance of the electrolyte at such low temperature. Recently, ceria-based composite materials, especially ceria-carbonate composites (3C), have been developed as competitive electrolyte candidates for SOFCs operated below 600 °C, which resulted in an emerging R & D upsurge followed up by worldwide activities. This report gives a short review on current worldwide activities on 3C for advanced low temperature ceramic fuel cells (LTCFCs), which mainly based on recent more than 70 publications since 2010. It gives an overview of materials composition and microstructure, multi-ion conduction effects, durability of the 3C materials in the areas of LTCFC or joint SOFC/MCFC filed, as well as some other novel applications of the 3C materials.