Solid oxide fuel cell is a next generation energy conversion device that can efficiently convert the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy. Fuel flexibility is one of the advantages of SOFCs over other types of fuel cells. SOFCs can operate with hydrocarbon type fuel. While nickel based composite is commonly used in direct methane fueled SOFC anode because of its great catalytic activity for methane reforming, the direct use of hydrocarbon fuels with pure Ni anode is usually insufficient for facile anode kinetics, and also deactivates the anode activity because of carbon deposition upon prolonged operation. In this report, the Ni based anodes with 20 nm thick catalytic functional layers, i.e., Pt, Ru, and Pt-Ru alloy, are fabricated by using the co-sputtering method to enhance the anode activity and power density of direct-methane SOFC operating at 500℃.

The measurement temperature characteristics in a semi-opened furnace used for performance evaluation of medium/low temperature ceramic fuel cells were experimentally examined. Temperature measurement positions were classified into two cases with the attached condition (A thermocouple is in contact with fuel cell surface) and the floated condition (A thermocouple is apart from the fuel cell surface). Compared to the floated condition, the attached condition exhibits the characteristics of higher measurement temperature and better temperature stability. When the measurement temperature of the attached and floated conditions based on calibrated temperatures were controlled to 250°C, the peak power density of ceramic fuel cells with yttrium-doped barium zirconate thin-film electrolyte was measured at approximately 50% smaller for the attached condition comparison with the floated condition. Comparison of the ohmic area specific resistance for ceramic fuel cells with yttria-stabilized zirconate substrate electrolyte showed that, for the performance evaluation reliability, the attached condition is more appropriate than the floated condition.

The energy saving effect of reactant plasma in Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of ultrathin solid oxide fuel cell electrolyte was examined by measuring electrical current in real time. Actuating a plasma generator led to a remarkable change in electric current and therefore a Plasma Enhanced ALD (PE-ALD) Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) supercycle demanded ~12% higher process energy than a Thermal ALD (T-ALD) YSZ supercycle. Nonetheless, because PE-ALD YSZ electrolyte providing higher growth rate and higher gas tightness needed 2 times smaller cycle number compared to T-ALD YSZ electrolyte, applying oxygen plasma in ALD of YSZ electrolyte resultantly reduced total process energy by ~44%.