Dip-coating and co-sintering technologies for fabricating tubular solid oxide fuel cells

A dip-coating method to fabricate anode-supported tubular solid oxide fuel cells has been successfully developed. The length, outside diameter, and thickness of the single cell are 10.8 cm, 1.0 cm, and 0.6 mm, respectively. The area of the cathode is 15–16 cm2 (cathode length = 4.8 cm). The cell consists of a Ni-YSZ anode support tube, a Ni-ScSZ anode functional layer, a ScSZ electrolyte film, a LSM-ScSZ cathode functional layer, and a LSM cathode current collecting layer. A preliminary examination of the single tubular cell has been carried out and an acceptable performance was obtained. The maximum power density was, respectively, 325, 276, 208, and 168 mW cm−2 at 850, 800, 750, and 700 °C, when operating with humidified hydrogen.