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MEMS-based thin-film solid-oxide fuel cells

  • Low-Temperature Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells
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Abstract

Thin-film solid-oxide fuel cells (TF-SOFCs) fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processing techniques not only help lower the cell operating temperature but also provide a convenient platform for studying cathodic losses. Utilizing these platforms, cathode kinetics can be enhanced dramatically by engineering the microstructure of the cathode/electrolyte interface by increasing the surface grain-boundary density. Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies have shown that oxygen exchange at electrolyte surface grain boundaries is facilitated by a high population of oxide-ion vacancies segregating preferentially to the grain boundaries. Furthermore, three-dimensional structuring of TF-SOFCs enabled by various lithography methods also helps increase the active surface area and enhance the surface exchange reaction. Although their practical prospects are yet to be verified, MEMS-based TF-SOFC platforms hold the potential to provide high-performance for low-temperature SOFC applications.

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Acknowledgments

Work at Stanford University by J.A., T.M.G., and F.B.P. was supported, in part, by the Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion (CNEEC), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001060. S.J.H. is also grateful to the Fusion Research Program for Green Technologies of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST) (Grant No. NRF-2011–0019300) for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA

    Jihwan An

  2. Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Korea

    Jihwan An

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, South Korea

    Joon Hyung Shim

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, South Korea

    Young-Beom Kim

  5. Argonne National Laboratory, USA

    Joong Sun Park

  6. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

    Wonyoung Lee

  7. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, USA

    Turgut M. Gür

  8. Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, USA

    Fritz B. Prinz

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  1. Jihwan An
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  2. Joon Hyung Shim
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  3. Young-Beom Kim
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  4. Joong Sun Park
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  7. Fritz B. Prinz
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Correspondence to Jihwan An.

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An, J., Shim, J.H., Kim, YB. et al. MEMS-based thin-film solid-oxide fuel cells. MRS Bulletin 39, 798–804 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2014.171

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2014.171

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