Solid oxide fuel cell development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

In 1998, we started the R&D program for the development of high performance planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The long-term goal of the project is to develop a planar SOFC system running directly on natural gas. The short-term goal is to develop low cost manufacturing techniques and to demonstrate stack power density greater than 1 W/cm2 at 800 C. The high power density will make possible to lower fuel cell operating temperature, thus enabling the use of cheaper materials as well as the direct oxidation of natural gas. This paper summarizes the technical status of the fabrication and electrochemical testings of single cells and stacks.