Stable Glass Seals for Intermediate Temperature (IT) SOFC Applications

  • Qingshan Zhu
  • Lian Peng
  • Tao Zhang
Chapter

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), which convert chemical energy of incoming fuels to electricity via electrochemical reactions, have become increasingly attractive to the utility and automotive industries for a number of reasons, including their high efficiency and low emissions [1]. Among different types of SOFCs, planar SOFC designs have several advantages over tubular designs [2], such as easier to be manufactured, lower processing cost, shorter current paths, and consequently higher power densities, etc. Planar SOFCs have therefore been extensively investigated over the past decade. In the planar design, a gas-tight seal is required to keep the fuel gas and air separated from each other to prevent direct combustion which decreases power generation efficiency and causes local overheating. The seals must be stable in both oxidized and reduced atmospheres, be chemically compatible with other fuel cell components, and have matched thermal expansion coefficients (TEC) with other components. Moreover, these properties must be kept unchanged over the required lifetime of at least 40,000 h at elevated temperatures, together with hundreds of thermal cycles. Although many advances have been achieved for SOFC sealing, none of the current sealing materials can meet all the above criteria at the same time. Accordingly, sealing has been identified as one of the toughest technical challenges for the development of planar SOFCs [3].

Keywords

Thermal Expansion Coefficient Leak Rate Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Chemical Compatibility Parent Glass 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • Qingshan Zhu
    • 1
  • Lian Peng
    • 1
  • Tao Zhang
    • 1
  1. 1.Multiphase Reaction LaboratoryInstitute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of SciencesChina

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