The use of fuel cells for the economical production of electrical power has not been fully realized. Fuel cells offer many advantages over standard power production systems, including full cycle efficiencies of 60%, a wide range of useable fuels, and environmentally sound combustion with very low emissions. Factors such as cost and low performance have held these systems back. A low cost fuel cell power system with high performance would find applications in power production ranging from on site cogeneration in the kilowatt range all the way to full sized power production plants with capacities of hundreds of megawatts. This Phase I, Small Business Innovation Research project is aimed at developing a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with a unitized, bipolar design using low resistivity thin solid oxide films produced by reactive magnetron sputtering techniques. These features should reduce production costs and system complexity as well as allow operation at temperatures of 600 to 700oC. This cell can operate on internally reformed hydrocarbon fuels and air, thereby increasing power plant efficiency. Several different SOFC's will be fabricated and tested over a range of operating temperatures in order to evaluate the feasibility of using such cells in fuel cell power plants. Each individual cell will have a unitized structure with no loose parts. It may be possible to produce a unitized stack as well, thereby greatly reducing the number of stack parts. Alternatives to the standard solid oxide electrolyte yttria stabilized zirconia will be tested in order to reduce electrode polarizations and cell resistance. Use of gadolinia doped ceria and baria stabilized bismuth oxide will be investigated during this research program.
