THESIS
Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 8133
Development
of Porous Metal-supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
Meng Ren (mengren95@gmail.com)
A Thesis Submitted to the school of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree Master of Applied Science, (2013)McMaster University
Abstract
The
introduction of metal supported cells may be a key innovation in the development of
solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. The objective of this
study was to develop a process of co-firing the ceramic layers of a solid oxide
fuel cell attached to their porous metal support. This is a major departure
from the traditional fuel cell architecture where the support layer is a
ceramic composite made of YSZ and NiO.
The problems to be
eliminated during the fabrication process include the warping, cracking and
delamination of the cell during the co-sintering process.
In this study, the porous metal layer was produced by the freeze tape casting
process. During co-sintering, it is necessary to match the relative shrinkage
between the metal and ceramic layers. Different parameters which can influence
the relative shrinkage were explored, including the heating rate, sintering
temperature, sintering time, cell thickness, solid loading of the green tapes,
applications of wet and dry hydrogen in the sintering atmosphere, as well as a
change of the electrolyte material. Specifically, GDC was tested as an
alternative electrolyte to YSZ.
Since the porous metal substrate is exposed to air during fuel cell operation,
it must be protected from oxidation. Therefore, the pack cementation method was
used to apply a layer of aluminum onto the metal substrate. Variables such as
temperature and exposure time of the coating materials were investigated in
this thesis.
Free Full Text Source: http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/8133/
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