Metal-Supported Cells with Comparable Performance to Anode-Supported Cells in Short-Term Stack Environment

Metal-supported fuel cells (MSC) are one of the most focused SOFC technologies world-wide for so-called APUs (auxiliary power units) in heavy duty vehicles. In the scope of the present work MSC cells were developed on the basis of a porous support made from a ferritic oxide dispersion strengthened Fe-Cr alloy (ITM). A sintered anode of nickel and 8 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) and an adaptation layer (8YSZ) were applied to provide a smooth surface with a defined residual porosity which allowed the deposition a very thin, gas-tight electrolyte layer (approx. 1.5 µm) of gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) by reactive sputtering. First cell and stack-tests with a lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSCF) cathode are presented. In the stack a current density of 1.2 A/cm² was reached at 800 °C and 0.7 V. This was the same power output as conventional anode-supported cells (ASC) under the same testing conditions. Therefore, it is shown that metal-supported cells can deliver the same electrochemical performance as anode-supported cells in a stack.