Dramatic Improvement of Power Generation Performance of Next-Gen PCFC (Advanced Chemical Energy Research Center)

Professor Takuto ARAKI , IAS Assistant Professor LI Kunpeng at ACERC, et.al. have dramatically improved the power generation performance of protonic conducting ceramic fuel cells (PCFC) and developed a computational model that can reproduce experimental data, showing that power generation efficiencies of over 70% can be achieved.

PCFCs are theoretically capable of higher power generation efficiency than other fuel cells. However, the actual PCFC has the disadvantage that the electrolyte conducts holes and causes an internal short circuit, which reduces the power generation efficiency. In this study, the team have realized a high-performance PCFC by suppressing internal short-circuits in the electrolyte and using a thinner electrolyte. By building a calculation model that can accurately and simply predict PCFC efficiency and reproducing experimental results, they have found the optimal configuration and operating conditions for a PCFC that achieves a power generation efficiency of 70%.

Part of this technology was published in Energy Conversion and Management on September 27, 2023.