Affiliations 

  • 1 Barrer Center, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
  • 2 Electrochemical Innovation Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, UCL, London, WC1E 7JE, UK
  • 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
  • 4 Research Complex at Harwell, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Harwell, Didcot, OX11 0FA, UK
  • 5 Finden Limited, Merchant House, 5 East St Helens Street, Abingdon, OX14 5EG, UK
  • 6 ESRF - The European Synchrotron, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, 38000, Grenoble, France
  • 7 Finden Limited, Merchant House, 5 East St Helens Street, Abingdon, OX14 5EG, UK. antony@finden.co.uk
  • 8 Barrer Center, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK. Kang.Li@imperial.ac.uk
Nat Commun, 2019 04 02;10(1):1497.
PMID: 30940801 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09427-z

Abstract

Ceramic fuel cells offer a clean and efficient means of producing electricity through a variety of fuels. However, miniaturization of cell dimensions for portable device application remains a challenge, as volumetric power densities generated by readily-available planar/tubular ceramic cells are limited. Here, we demonstrate a concept of 'micro-monolithic' ceramic cell design. The mechanical robustness and structural integrity of this design is thoroughly investigated with real-time, synchrotron X-ray diffraction computed tomography, suggesting excellent thermal cycling stability. The successful miniaturization results in an exceptional power density of 1.27 W cm-2 at 800 °C, which is among the highest reported. This holistic design incorporates both mechanical integrity and electrochemical performance, leading to mechanical property enhancement and representing an important step toward commercial development of portable ceramic devices with high volumetric power (>10 W cm-3), fast thermal cycling and marked mechanical reliability.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.