The Development of Current Collection in Micro-Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells—A Review

Abstract

Micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cells (µT-SOFCs) are suited to a broad range of applications with power demands ranging from a few watts to several hundred watts. µT-SOFCs possess inherently favourable characteristics over alternate configurations such as high thermo-mechanical stability, high volumetric power density and rapid start-up times, lending them particular value for use in portable applications. Efficient current collection and interconnection constitute a bottleneck in the progression of the technology. The development of current collector designs and configuration reported in the literature since the inception of the technology are the focus of this study.

Keywords

• micro-tubular SOFC
• current collection
• interconnection
• ohmic polarisation
• conduction pathway length