Solid oxide fuel cell having a dense barrier layer
AssigneeSaint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc.
InventorsBrian P. FELDMAN, Craig M. ADAMS, Zachary R. PATTERSON, Ayhan SARIKAYA, Aravind MOHANRAM
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Abstract
A solid oxide fuel cell with a dense barrier layer formed at or near the outer surface of the top and/or bottom electrode layers in a fuel cell stack. The dense barrier layer (DBL) acts as a seal to prevent gas in the electrode layer (either air in a cathode layer or fuel gas in an anode layer) from leaking out of the stack though the outer surface of the outermost electrode layers. The use of a DBL with porous outer electrode layers reduces the amount of gas escaping the stack and minimizes the chances for leak-induced problems ranging from decreases in performance to catastrophic stack failure.
Claims20
A solid oxide fuel cell, comprising:
- a first porous electrode layer;
- a dense interconnect layer over the first porous electrode layer;
- a second porous electrode layer over the dense interconnect layer, the second porous electrode layer defining at least one gas passage;
- and
- a dense barrier layer disposed at an outer surface of the second porous electrode layer opposite the dense interconnect layer,
- wherein the dense barrier layer is compositionally different from the dense interconnect layer.
A fuel cell assembly, comprising:
- a stack of alternating layers of a porous electrode of a first type and a porous electrode of a second type, wherein:
- a total number of the layer of the porous electrode of the first type=n, wherein n is at least 1;
- a total number of the layer of the porous electrode of the second type=n+1;
- and
- a barrier layer disposed at an outer surface of an outermost layer of the porous electrodes of the first type and the second type,
- wherein no dense barrier layer is disposed between the layers of the porous electrodes of the first and second types.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.