Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are efficient in converting hydrogen-based fuel to electrical energy and has been used efficiently for large-scale (gas-turbines) and small-scale applications, such as small electrical generators; however, enhancement in the durability and performance is crucially important for feasible deployment. Intermediate Temperature (IT) SOFCs are attractive for sustainable hydrogen conversion due to longer lifetime with lower temperature operation (500-750 °C) compared to traditional high temperature SOFC (850–1000 °C). Therefore, development of SOFC electrodes with enhanced electrochemical activity is essential, with important considerations on electronically and ionic conductive components with enhanced three phase boundary sites. Porous & nanostructured electrodes are highly effective in providing abundant active sites where the electronic conductor, electrolyte and gas phase interact.

This project aims to develop thin film IT-SOFC with cathode and anode using novel designed nanostructured oxide electrodes for high performance hydrogen conversion. Our proposed work aims to deliver porous & nanostructured electrodes with high surface area and low interfacial resistance for efficient fuel transport. For the cathode, we hypothesized that employing a dual (soft and hard) template approach, the resultant hierarchical porous nanostructured electrodes would realize high electrochemical activity. In addition, the layer-by-layer coating with atomic layer deposition of an oxide shell layer over the porous electrodes would offer additional advantages in composition and structuring tunability. For the anode, we propose a novel vapor-phase based technique for the synthesis of highly crystalline nanowires, able to enhance the electron transport while reducing agglomeration leading to improved stability.

The output power of an integrated SOFC can be enhanced with the uniquely designed cathode & anode electrodes, a collaborative effort by the Singapore and Italy partnership leading to efficient hydrogen conversion for development of thin film SOFC for scalable or distributed autonomous applications.