The Effect of the Anode Thickness on Electrolyte Supported SOFCs

Planer-type electrolyte substrates are often utilized for stack manufacturing of electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cells (ES-SOFCs) to fulfill necessary requirements such as a high mechanical strength and redox stability. This work did an electrochemical analysis of ES-SOFC with different NiO-YSZ anode thicknesses to find the optimal value for the high performance of the fuel cell. The cell resistivities were constant at anode thickness between 25–58 μm, but a thick anode (74 μm) caused a high electrode resistivity leading to a dramatic reduction in cell performance. A stability test was performed for 50 hours at 700°C, and the results showed a degradation rate of 0.3% per 1000 h by extrapolated fitting.