Energy Conversion Materials: An Electrolyte for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (IT-SOFCs) Applications

Oxide-ion conductor solid electrolytes are useful for intermediate-solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFCs) applications. SOFCs are electrochemical devices, i.e., it converts chemical energy into electrical energy based on fuel supply. SOFCs are known for clean, green, environmentally friendly, and high-efficiency energy conversion devices. Fossil and oil resources are vanishing rapidly, so looking into alternative energy conversion devices is essential. The high operating temperature made SOFCs more attractive over the other fuel cells. The operating temperature puts constraints on large-scale industry applications. Existing commercial electrolytes YSZ required more than 800 °C operating temperature. To bring down the operating temperatures below 600 °C, CeO2 is the alternate material, which shows much-improved oxide-ion conductivity of less than 700 °C. SOFC is a three-component device, i.e., it consists of an anode, electrolyte, and cathode. Single-component SOFC is more advantageous than the three-component device. The present chapter focuses on recent developments of solid electrolytes, single components (composite electrolytes), and three-component SOFCs concerning the structure and electrical properties.