Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

A review on cell/stack designs for high performance solid oxide

fuel cells
Bora Timurkutluk a,b,n, Cigdem Timurkutluk b,c, Mahmut D. Mat d, Yuksel Kaplan a,b
a
Nigde University, Mechanical Engineering Department, 51245 Nigde, Turkey
b
Nigde University Prof. Dr. T. Nejat Veziroglu Clean Energy Research Center, 51245 Nigde, Turkey
c
Vestel Defense Industry, Universiteler Mah. Ihsan Dogramaci Bul. Titanyum Blok, 17/B Teknokent ODTU, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
d
Meliksah University, Mechanical Engineering Department, 38280 Kayseri, Turkey

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Besides the general advantages of fuel cells, including clean and quiet operation, solid oxide fuel cells
Received 16 July 2014 (SOFCs) as being one of the high-temperature fuel cells also provide a relatively high efficiency due to
Received in revised form enhanced reaction kinetics at high operating temperatures. The high operation temperature of SOFC also
3 November 2015
enables internal reforming of most hydrocarbons and can tolerate small quantities of impurities in the
Accepted 3 December 2015
fuel. However, a high operation temperature limits the SOFC application areas to stationary applications
because of a long start-up period and also is not desirable from the viewpoint of cost reduction and long-
Keywords: term stability especially for the cell materials. Therefore, the lowering the operation temperature of
Solid oxide fuel cell SOFCs is crucial for the cost reduction and the long term operation without degradation as well as the
Cell design
commercialization of the SOFC systems. The reduced operating temperature also helps to reduce the
Geometrical modification
time and to save the energy required for the system start-up enabling SOFCs to have wider application
Structural modification
Review areas including mobile/portable ones. Apart from the low operating temperature, the high performance
along with a small volume is another requirement for SOFC to be used in mobile applications. Both can be
achieved by fabricating novel SOFCs generating a high power output at low operating temperatures.
Therefore, this paper reviews the current status and related research on the development of these high
performance-SOFC cell/stack designs.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
1.1. SOFC operation principle and cell/stack structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
1.2. SOFC classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1102
1.3. Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
1.4. Review method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
2. Geometrically modified cell designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
2.1. Integrated planar (segmented in series) SOFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104
2.2. Cone-shaped SOFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106
2.3. Flat-tube SOFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1108
2.4. Honeycomb SOFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111
2.5. Micro-tubular SOFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1112
3. Structurally modified cell designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113
3.1. Novel electrolyte designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113
3.2. Wet impregnated/infiltrated (nanostructured) cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115
3.2.1. Mixed conductive phase infiltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115

n
Corresponding author at: Nigde University, Mechanical Engineering Department, 51245 Nigde, Turkey. Tel.: þ 90 388 225 23 37; fax: þ90 388 225 01 12.
E-mail address: bora.timurkutluk@nigde.edu.tr (B. Timurkutluk).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.034
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1102 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

3.2.2. Catalyst infiltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1116

4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118

1. Introduction 1.1. SOFC operation principle and cell/stack structure

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are new generation electro-
chemical devices which convert the chemical energy of a fuel
directly into electrical energy with an additional amount of valu-
able heat energy. They can be also considered to be environmen-
tally friendly technology depending on how the fuel is processed.
Since the energy conversion is totally electrochemical and does
not contain any other intermediate energy conversion steps, the
electrical efficiency of SOFCs is relatively higher than the similar
mature technologies such as internal combustion engines or
generators. SOFCs may operate at very high temperature (600–
1000 °C) depending on the electrolyte material. Thus, they have a
higher tolerance to fuel impurities than that of the low tempera-
ture fuel cell types. The enhanced reaction kinetics as a result of
the high operation temperature further improve the electric effi-
ciency of SOFC hence SOFC can be considered to be one of the
most efficient fuel cells. In addition to pure hydrogen, gaseous
hydrocarbon fuels can be used as a fuel in SOFC directly or after a
reforming process. Despite the superior advantages mentioned,
the commercialization of the technology has not fully succeeded
and thus SOFC is still not competitive in the energy market due to
mainly very high operation temperatures leading to stability
problems as a result of material issues and economic obstacles
because of the high costs of special materials required especially
for the high temperature sealing and current collection. The
companies in this field like Siemens Westinghouse stopped their
R&D activities due to the slow development of the fuel cell market
and the growth of the global economies. In the material point of
view, a strategic constraint is to improve the ionic conductivity of
the electrolyte at a low temperature and to provide a stable device.
If succeeding these goals would mean a technology breakthrough.
Ceramic membrane electrode assembly (MEA) composed of a
porous anode, a dense electrolyte and a porous cathode is the key
element of the SOFC system. While the anode is responsible for the
fuel oxidation, the oxygen ions generated at the cathode as a result of
the cathode electrochemical reaction are transferred through the
electrolyte to the anode layer. The generation of the electrical current
is achieved via the external circuit during the transfer of electrons
produced at the anode site to the cathode site. The current collection
is achieved by using ceramic or metallic current collectors at both
sides known as interconnectors. The operation principle of hydrogen
fueled SOFC with the electrochemical reactions occurring each layer
is shown in Fig. 1. The electrochemical reactions, on the other hand,
take place at triple phase boundaries (TPBs) where an ion conductor,
an electronic conductor or catalyst and reactant phases meet. In
order to improve the ionic conductivity of the electrodes and thus
expand TPBs to all over the electrode volume, a certain amount of
electrolyte material is often mixed with the corresponding catalyst
material. In this aspect, a typical SOFC MEA consists of porous NiO/
8YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia: 8 mol% Y2O3–ZrO2) anode, dense
8YSZ electrolyte and porous LSM (lanthanum strontium manganite)/
8YSZ cathode. SOFC composed of a MEA and two interconnects with
required sealing is called as a single cell or short stack. In order to
produce higher power as well as higher potential, single cells are
connected in series/parallel to construct SOFC stacks. An SOFC single
cell and three-cell stack are illustrated in Fig. 2(a) and (b), respec-
tively. The sealant is not included in the figures for better under-
standing of the cell/stack configuration.
1.2. SOFC classifications
SOFCs can be categorized according to the type of the cell sup-
port (i.e. anode, cathode, electrolyte or porous substrate supported)

O Oxygen
External circuit
LOAD
H Hydrogen

Electron

O2 H2
O H H
O O O H H
O H

O O
H
H
O O
O
O2 H2 O
H

Cathode Electrolyte Anode

½ O2 + 2e → O - 2-
Overall: H2 + ½ O2 → H2O H2 + O2- → H2O + 2e-

Fig. 1. Schematic of SOFC working principle.

 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
Air
Fuel
Interconnector
MEG
Fig. 2. SOFC single cell (a) and SOFC stack with 3 cells (b).
anode electrolyte
Fig. 3. SOFC MEA configurations (a) cathode supported (b) anode supported (c) electrolyte supported and (d) porous substrate supported (not to scale).
and the operating temperature (i.e. high, intermediate and low
temperature). SOFC MEAs can be manufactured electrolyte, elec-
trode and porous substrate supported (Fig. 3). For electrode sup-
ported cells, although mass limitation problems arise due to thick
electrode layers, they can provide relatively high performance as a
result of the reduced electrolyte thickness. The anode-supported
cell design is the most common in this respect. The electrolyte-
supported SOFCs, however, have relatively strong structures and are
less susceptible to mechanical failures. The use of a new material to
support the two electrodes and the electrolyte increases the com-
plexity in the porous supported design. In addition to these four
types, the interconnector/metallic supports can also be used.
Although the structure is as strong as the electrolyte supported
configuration, it is problematic in that the design of the flow-field is
restricted by the cell support requirement.
The operation temperature of SOFCs is mainly determined by
the type of the electrolyte material used. High temperature SOFCs
employ YSZ electrolyte in general and an operation temperature of
1000 °C is required to have an acceptable ionic conductivity. This
operating temperature can be reduced to the intermediate tem-
perature range around 800 °C by switching the cell configuration
to the anode supported cell design. However, the typical Ni-based
anodes suffer from the cyclic reduction (NiO-Ni) and oxidation
(Ni-NiO). This continuous phase change is known as redox
cycling and is likely to occur during the lifetime of the SOFC sys-
tem. The volumetric changes during these conversions cause
mechanical damage to the cell and thus limit the service life of the
SOFC system. Anode supported cells have relatively thin electro-
lyte layer in the order of a few micrometers. Therefore, the anode
supported cells, particularly are more vulnerable to redox cycling
[1–4]. Alternatively, scandia stabilized zirconia or magnesium
1103
cathode porous substrate
doped lanthanum gallate can be used as an alternative electrolyte
material offering relatively high ionic conductivity at intermediate
temperatures. However, the former shows phase transition from
cubic phase to rhombohedral phase leading to a reduction in the
ionic conductivity below 650 °C [5,6] while the latter was reported
to react with the commonly used anode material, NiO, resulting in
the deactivation of the anode due to La–Ni phase formation [7,8].
The stability problem of scandia stabilized zirconia was shown to
be avoided by introducing small amounts of alumina or ceria
phase [9–12]. The low temperature SOFCs operate below or
around 600 °C and Gd/Sm doped ceria is generally used as an
electrolyte material. On the other hand, doped ceria electrolytes
have sintering problems and show electronic conductivity causing
a power loss due to short-circuiting the cell [13,14].
It is also possible to classify SOFCs according to the cell geo-
metry. There exist two major SOFC design configurations, i.e.
tubular and planar as shown in Fig. 4. The comparison of the
tubular and the planar SOFCs is summarized in Table 1 [15–26].
The tubular SOFC is well-known type SOFC. Although it is pro-
blematic in that it is difficult to produce and it has a low power
density in comparison with the planar type, it is somewhat
advantageous since it is easy to accomplish both gas sealing and
interconnection application of single cells during stack manu-
facturing. On the other hand, the planar type not only provides
easier fabrication, but it can also exhibit the power density at an
extent which cannot be reached by the tubular type due to their
structural disadvantages as a result of the long current collection
path. In this regard, recently the planar SOFC rather than the
tubular type has been studied and developed in two forms of
radial and flat types.
1104 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

are presented in Section 2 whereas Section 3 considers the

Electrolyte structurally modified designs including SOFCs with novel elec-
Cathode trolytes and nanostructured electrodes. The main emphasis in this
review is given to the description of the cell structure, the cell
Anode
materials used, the fabrication methods employed, the cell per-
formances obtained and the stability data in a comparative way as
well as the leading companies and the historical development.
How these designs overcome the disadvantages of conventional
designs and the remaining challenges are also discussed in these
sections. The general conclusion remarks, on the other hand, are
summarized in Section 4.

2. Geometrically modified cell designs

2.1. Integrated planar (segmented in series) SOFCs

Integrated planar solid oxide fuel cells (IP-SOFCs) also known

Anode
as segmented in series SOFCs pioneered by Rolls-Royce is one of
Electrolyte the alternative cell designs and can be considered as a cross
between the planar and tubular designs. This design is suggested
mainly to avoid the weight and the cost of the conventional
interconnectors and the intrinsic structure of the interconnector
Cathode stacking configuration. It also provides improved cell performance
due to short ionic and electronic current paths, making SOFCs
suitable for mobile applications. However, the sealing and inter-
Fig. 4. Schematic of a tubular (a) and a planar SOFC (b). connector integrity seems to be the weak point of the design.
Therefore, a careful cell design and materials selection together
Table 1 with a microstructural optimization are needed to overcome these
The tubular and planar SOFCs, advantages and disadvantages. problems. The multi-cell array fabricated on a planar or tubular
porous substrate is considered to be the primary unit of the stack.
Property Tubular Planar Reference(s)
Thus, IP-SOFC can also be implemented in a tubular configuration
Power density Low High [15–18] with both circular and flattened tube designs. Beside Rolls Royce,
Volumetric power density Low High [19–21] Japan Kyocera and Mitsubishi are also in this field with their
High temperature sealing Easy Difficult [22,23]
segmented in series SOFCs. The schematic of IP-SOFC three-cell
Start-up and shut-down Fast Slow [20,22,24,25]
Interconnector fabrication Difficult High cost [22] array and a module are illustrated in Fig. 5 [27,28]. The
Production cost High Low [26]
Thermal cycling stability High Low [19]

1.3. Motivation

Both the planar and tubular designs are not suitable for the
mobile applications where both fast start-up time and high vol-
tage/performance in a limited space are demanded. The former
suffers from the structural instability problem when subjected to
high heating/cooling rates needed for mobile applications in spite
of the relatively high power density. Although the latter provides
thermal stability due to the symmetric circular nature, its rela-
tively low power density limits its application in portable devices.
Furthermore, the high operating temperature leading to material
issues and high cost is the other problem that needs to be resolved
for all SOFC designs. Therefore, most studies have concentrated on
solving these problems by offering novel cell designs for the last
two decades. In this aspect, there can be found several different
designs reported in the literature as an alternative to two major
SOFC cell designs. It is possible to categorize these studies under
two main titles, i.e. geometrically and structurally modified cell
designs. This paper presents a detailed review of the experimental
and theoretical research efforts on these designs together with
their advantages and drawbacks.

1.4. Review method

The geometrically modified solid oxide cell designs i.e. inte- Fig. 5. Schematic of 3-cell array of IP-SOFC (a) and a module (b) developed at Rolls-
grated planar, cone-shaped, honeycomb and micro-tubular SOFCs Royce (adopted from [27,28], respectively).
 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121 1105

Table 2 power based on active cell area. The enhanced performance was
Materials used in the fabrication of IP-SOFC. attributed to the decreasing cathode sheet resistance with
increasing LSM thickness. Recently, An et al. [47] fabricated seg-
Layer Material Reference(s)
mented in series SOFC by using decalcomania method which was
Porous substrate 3YSZ [29,31,33] reported to provide excellent interfacial bonding since the cell
Al2O3–3YSZ [30] components do not penetrate into the porous support. They
Calcia-doped stabilized zirconia [34,39–42] investigated the effect of cell length on the performance. The open
NiO/8YSZ [35]
MgO–NiO–YSZ [37, 38]
circuit voltage and maximum power density were found to
NiO doped MgO [44] increase with decreasing the cell length. The improvement in the
Anode NiO/8YSZ [30–33,35,36,43–48] cell performance was attributed to the shorter current path. They
NiO/10YSZ [33,35,36,39,43] also studied the effect of cell to cell distance on the cell perfor-
Electrolyte 8YSZ [30–33,35,36,43–48]
mance [48]. Segmented in series cell structure was fabricated by
10YSZ [34,39–42]
Cathode (La, Sr)MnO3 (LSM) [29–31,43,45] decalcomania method again with 1, 2 and 3 mm cell to cell dis-
LSM/8YSZ [43,46–48] tance. The highest open circuit voltage and power density were
LSCF/Gd doped ceria (GDC) [33] achieved when the cell to cell distance was 2 mm.
LSM/GDC [45] The high performance is not adequate alone for any energy
(La, Sr, Ca)MnO3 (LSCM) [34, 39–42]
Sr and Co-doped LaFeO3 (LSCF) [36,43,44]
generating devices like SOFCs, since long service life is also essential.
Interconnector Au [29,30] For this purpose, Almutairi et al. [32] tested the thermal cycling and
(La, Sr)TiO3 [34,40–42] the long term durability of IP-SOFC tubes while Bujalski et al. [49]
Pt [33] compared the cyclic performance of IP-SOFC to a tubular and a
Ag [43]
planar SOFCs under various thermal and current load conditions. In
the former, the tubes were experienced a 1.5% voltage drop per
electrochemical cells are printed on both sides of the planar por- 1000 h of steady operation at 900 °C under 0.17 A cm  2 constant
ous substrate in a module. The materials used in the fabrication of load. The performance loss was explained by the increased ohmic
IP-SOFCs are listed in Table 2 [29–46]. resistance and the damaged interconnector. However, the result
IP-SOFC have been studied experimentally and theoretically in after the thermal cycling tests was much more dramatic. A large
the literature after the first demonstration by Gardner et al. [27] crack on the tube surface was observed after 5 thermal cycles. In the
who reported the SOFC development efforts at Rolls-Royce. They latter, the durability performances of Forschungszentrum Jülich
presented the performance results of an IP-SOFC stack having planar stack, Rolls Royce integrated planar tube and Adelan pure
30 W peak power at 950 °C. Under these conditions, the fuel uti- tube designs were compared. The experimental results indicated
that the ramping should be up to 2 °C min  1 for the planar and IP
lization of the stack was calculated as almost 60%, while the
tube SOFCs for a safe operation. A significantly fluctuated OCV and
mixture of H2–H2O–N2 (wt% 66–17–17) was the fuel. Kim et al.
an interconnector delamination were observed for the planar and
[29], on the other hand, proposed a novel fabrication method for
IP-SOFCs after thermal cycling, respectively. On the other hand, the
IP-SOFCs. All cell components, including the glass sealant and Au
small tube was shown to be mechanically stable up to
interconnector were fabricated by the novel direct-writing method
4000 °C min  1 heating rate with a small deterioration in perfor-
called robo-dispensing based on a selective paste dispensing,
mance over 50 cycles. It was concluded that the degradation under
except the porous support which was produced via uniaxially
cycling conditions is size dependent and the cell dimensions should
pressing of partially stabilized zirconia powders (3 mol% Y2O3–
be reduced to the millimeter scale in order to develop thermal shock
ZrO2: 3YSZ) with a pore former resin. The 2-cell serially connected
resistance system. Beside the thermal stability, millimeter scale
IP-SOFC consisting of 15 mm thick YSZ electrolyte, 30 mm thick NiO/
segmented in series SOFCs are also essential for minimizing the
YSZ (wt% 60/40) and 20 mm thick LSM cathode provided only
electrode resistances as suggested by Lai et al. [33]. They demon-
35 mW at 800 °C under humidified (3 wt% H2O) hydrogen fuel. The
strated the fabrication of 1–2 mm long cells and concluded that the
open circuit voltage (OCV) was also found to be lower than the
performance of the cell can be improved if the cell length is reduced
theoretical one. The reduced OCV was explained by a gas leakage to below 10 mm. Kobayashi et al. [34] have recently tested the
due to an imperfect sealing and the pores formed in the Au durability of 48-cell tubular segmented in series SOFC with calcia-
interconnector due to the excessive grain growth during sintering doped zirconia (CSZ) porous substrate, NiO/10YSZ anode, 10YSZ
at 850 °C. The influence of reduced shunting current of on the (10 mol% Y2O3–90 mol% ZrO2) electrolyte, SDC ((Ce0.8Sm0.2)O2)
performance of 2-cell serially IP-SOFC fabricated by robo- interlayer, LSCM ((La0.5Sr0.25Ca0.25)MnO3) cathode and Sr0.9La0.1TiO3
dispensing technique was also studied later by the same group interconnector. The degradation measurements were carried out for
[30]. They showed that 30% performance improvement is possible 5000 h under three different conditions, i.e. uniform temperature of
with the addition of 20 vol% Al2O3 to the porous substrate com- 900 °C, high fuel utilization of 75% and with a temperature dis-
pared to that of the Al2O3 free substrate. However, the further tribution between 750 °C and 900 °C. The average degradation rates
increase in the Al2O3 composition negatively affected the cell were found to be around zero for all cases considered. However,
performance due to the chemical interaction with the nickel undesired chemical interaction was observed between SDC inter-
component of the anode leading to NiAl2O4 formation. Lai and layer and LSCM cathode which leads to significant cell voltage
Barnett [31] investigated the effect of LSM current collecting layer decrease, especially at lower operating temperatures below 800 °C.
thickness on the cell performance. Four-cell porous partially sta- Besides the thermal cycling and long term durability, high
bilized zirconia supported IP-SOFC was fabricated for this purpose. redox stability is also required to have reliable IP-SOFCs systems
Unlike Kim et al. [29] and Oh et al. [30], all cell components were with several tens of thousands of hours service life. In order to
fabricated via low cost screen printing technique while the porous improve the redox tolerance, nickel phase is generally added to the
substrate was similarly manufactured by pressing. The experi- porous substrate. The re-oxidation of nickel particles in the thin
mental results indicated that increasing the LSM current collecting anode layer thus can be limited by selectively oxidized nickel on
layer thickness from 11 mm to 91 mm leads to an improved cell the porous substrate. However, the amount of addition is very
performance by a factor of 2–3 due to the similar decrease in the significant since the porous substrate should be electronically
area specific resistance. The final cell showed 0.9 W cm  2 peak insulating to avoid short circuiting. Wang et al. [35] provided this
1106 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
balance by investigating the effect of nickel content on the thermal
and insulating properties of the porous substrate made of YSZ. For
this purpose, NiO/YSZ composites having various nickel content
(vol% 0–30) were prepared. The cermet with 20 vol% nickel was
damaged significantly during the first heating cycle due to large
isothermal expansion. On the other hand, the cermets having
r10 vol% nickel exhibited no obvious cracks. Furthermore, when
the nickel content was below 20 vol%, the electrical resistivity of
the composite substrate was measured as r67 Ω cm at 900 °C
indicating that NiO/YSZ with r 10 vol% nickel is a promising
candidate as a porous substrate for IP-SOFC. The redox tolerance of
segmented in series SOFC was also investigated by Fujita et al. [36]
on their own SOFC fabricated by extrusion of Ni-doped MgO por-
ous substrate and tape casting of NiO/YSZ anode layer. The dip
coating method was employed for YSZ electrolyte while Co-doped
LaFeO3 (LSCF) cathode layer was screen printed. The redox was
carried out during start and stop operation between 20 °C and
775 °C temperatures, thus it also includes the thermal cycling.
During the heating from 20 °C to 700 °C and during the cooling
from 700 °C to 20 °C, air or humidified air was used as the oxi-
dation gas, whereas the reduction between 700 °C and 775 °C was
achieved by using humidified methane. Twenty redox cycles in
total were performed and only 0.15% performance loss per cycle
was reported in spite of the extreme re-oxidation conditions. The
high redox tolerance was explained by that the existence of nickel,
the diffusion coefficient and mean free path in the porous sub-
strate deter the oxidation of the anode. Somekawa et al. [37], on
the other hand, focused on the redox stability of MgO–NiO–YSZ
porous support. The redox tolerance and the methane reforming
capability of MgO–NiO–YSZ composites were compared with
those of NiO–YSZ composites. The support exhibited slight size
and structural changes during redox operations at 800 °C. More-
over, in spite of relatively low Ni content, MgO–NiO–YSZ showed
almost equivalent reforming activity towards humidified methane
with a steam to carbon ratio of 2 when compared to NiO–YSZ
composites at temperatures ranging from 600 °C to 800 °C.
The theoretical studies on IP-SOFC have focused on the elec-
trochemical, thermo-fluid and solid mechanics modeling. Costa-
magna et al. [50], for example, presented an electrochemical
model for IP-SOFC considering the electrochemical processes
together with mass transport phenomena occurring in both elec-
trodes. In order to validate the mathematical model, the perfor-
mance measurements were also performed for 3-cell module
having 13.44 cm2 active area and 20-cell module with a total
effective area of 89.6 cm2. The simulation results were demon-
strated to be in acceptable agreement with the experimental
performance data for both cases. The effects of the cell pitch
length, the thicknesses of the electrodes and the fuel composition
on the ohmic and polarization resistances were then investigated
numerically. The numerical results revealed that the ohmic resis-
tance tends to increase with the pitch length while the overall
ohmic resistance can be lowered by increasing the electrode
thickness. However, the concentration polarization was adversely
influenced by an increase of electrode thickness as a side-effect.
Similarly, relatively high concentration polarizations were esti-
mated when either H2 or H2O concentration in the anode is low. In
a similar study by Lai and Barnett [51], losses due to cell resis-
tances including electrode ohmic resistances, interconnector
resistance and shunting were considered. The role of the cell and
interconnector geometry was also investigated in the study. It was
stated that relatively small cell lengths and cathode sheet resis-
tances are essential in order to improve the cell performance by
lowering the area specific resistance of the cell. Haberman and
Young [28] concerned with the three-dimensional numerical
simulation of the steady state gas flow with chemical reactions in
the porous support of an IP-SOFC. A small computational domain
directly above the central fuel gas channel was considered and
modeled to be a catalyst impregnated internal reforming zone for
the steam reforming of methane in the analyses. In addition to
general governing equations, i.e. conservation of mass, momentum
and conservation of energy, the reaction kinetic model for the
water–gas shift and the methane reforming reactions were also
included in the model. However, the results introduced in this
paper are totally numerical without comparing any particular
experiments. The estimated velocity, pressure, temperature and
species distributions within the porous support structure were
presented. It was found that the kinetics of the reforming reaction
and the thermal boundary conditions have a significant impact on
the flow field developed within the domain of interest. Mounir
et al. [52] have recently investigated the survival probability of the
cell components in an IP-SOFC module composed 5 bundles
numerically by estimating the thermal stresses due to the thermal
expansion and Young’s modulus variation of the materials used.
The estimated temperature distribution was also compared with
the study by Haberman and Young [28] and a good agreement was
reported. The simulation results demonstrated that the electro-
chemical performance gradually increases bundle to bundle, but
the probability of the survival decreases due to an increase in the
thermal stresses and the probability of survival of the electrolyte is
lower than the other cell components. Other modeling efforts of
IP-SOFCs can be found in the relevant literature [53–56].
2.2. Cone-shaped SOFCs
Another stack design based on the segmented cell concept
connected in electrical and gas flow series is cone-shaped design.
However, it differs from the IP SOFCs in that it has no multi cell
array constructed on a single support. Instead, the singe cells are
connected in accordance with the segmented cell design. It can be
viewed as a modified tubular SOFC thus it can provide a high
thermal stability. The stacking can be achieved by fitting one cone
into another to form a tubular self-supporting structure while
interconnectors serve as seal and current collector at the same
time. Such design can provide a flexible stack structure where a
higher power can be obtained with a small size. Thus, it is possible
to build lightweight and compact cone-shaped stacks for portable
applications. However, the interconnector integrity like in IP-
SOFCs and fabrication problems due to geometric complexity are
the main problems with this design. The illustration of 3-cell stack
of such design is given in Fig. 6 [57]. The studies reviewed in this
paper are summarized in Table 3 by considering the materials
used, the fabrication techniques employed, the performance
obtained for various fuels and the resistance measured [57–71].
Cone-shaped SOFC was first introduced by Sui and Liu [57].
They successfully fabricated and tested 3-cell stack. The single unit
comprises around 2 cm long slip cast cone-shaped 8YSZ electro-
lyte support, LSCF/GDC cathode on the outside and NiO/GDC on
the inside of the cone-shaped electrolyte support. The stack
Fig. 6. Cone-shaped 3-cell stack elements 1. Anode; 2. Electrolyte; 3. Cathode; 4.
Interconnect [57].
Table 3
A performance comparison of the cone-shaped SOFCs.

B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

Cell materials Cone-support fabrication Operation temperature Fuel Maximum power density Area specific resistance Reference(s)
technique (°C) (mW cm  2) (Ω cm2)
Electrolyte Anode Cathode

8YSZ NiO–Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 Slip casting 800 Humidified 90.1 3.8 [57]
hydrogen
Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 NiO–Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 Slip casting 700 Humidified 297 0.34 [58]
hydrogen
Ce0.9Sm0.1O1.95 NiO–Ce0.9Sm0.1O1.95 Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 Slip casting 700 Humidified 300 0.41 [59]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ LSM–YSZ Slip casting 700 Humidified 140 3 [60]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3–8YSZ Dip coating 800 Humidified 780  0.8 [61]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3–8YSZ Dip coating 800 Humidified 1080  0.8 [62]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3–8YSZ Slip casting 800 Humidified 1780 0.185 [63]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ (La0.75Sr0.25)0.95MnO3 þ δ –8YSZ Injection molding 850 Humidified 795  0.8 [64]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ La0.8Sr0.2MnO3–8YSZ Phase inversion 800 Humidified 350 41 [65]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3–8YSZ Gel-casting 800 Humidified 900  0.6 [66]
hydrogen
8YSZ NiO–8YSZ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3–8YSZ Slip casting 800 Methane 1099 41 [67]
Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 NiO–Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3– Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 Slip casting 600 Humidified 414  0.5 [68]
methane
Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 NiO–Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3– Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 Slip casting 600 Dimethyl ether 350 48 [70]
8YSZ Ni0.75Fe0.25–5%MgO)/ La0.7Sr0.3MnO3–8YSZ Dip coating 800 Carbon Monoxide 424 – [71]
8YSZ

1107
1108 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
Fig. 7. Photo of 11-cell cone-shaped anode supported stack [69].
produced 33 mW cm  2 peak power density at an operation tem-
perature of 800 °C. A year later, they reported an enhanced per-
formance by replacing YSZ electrolyte by SDC [58]. The cone-shape
SDC electrolyte supported single unit having 0.85 cm2 active area
provided about 300 mW cm  2 peak power density at 700 °C. The
total cell resistance was found to be dominated by the ohmic
losses due to thick electrolyte layer. It is also indicated that the
poor mechanical performance of SDC electrolyte may limit its use
in a SOFC stack. Jing et al. [59], on the other hand, fabricated a
cone-shaped gadolinium doped ceria (Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95, GDC) elec-
trolyte supported single unit. The support was produced again via
slip casting and has 0.85 cm open end diameter, 1 cm length and
0.026 cm thickness after sintering at 1400 °C for 4 h. The cell
provided again 300 mW cm  2 maximum power density at 700 °C
due to again the ohmic resistance of the thick electrolyte. Zhang
et al. [60] also improved the cell performance significantly by
fabricating cone-shaped anode supported structure. The slip
casting technique was employed again for the fabrication of cone-
shape NiO/YSZ anode support while YSZ electrolyte was deposited
on the anode support via dip coating. LSM/YSZ (wt% 60/40)
cathode, on the other hand, was coated by brush painting. Ag
paste was used as the current collector (interconnector) and
sealing. The final single unit provided 0.8 W cm  2 maximum
power density at 800 °C. The impedance results revealed that the
cell performance is limited by the interfacial resistance with a
negligible ohmic loss due to thin electrolyte layer.
The fabrication method is shown to play a crucial role for the
performance of cone-shaped SOFCs. Bai et al. [61] offered dip
coating technique for the cone-shaped support fabrication instead
of the traditional slip casting method which was considered as
complex and unstable. A single cone-shaped cell composed of NiO/
8YSZ anode support, 8YSZ electrolyte and LSM/YSZ cathode was
assembled successfully and the feasibility of the suggested tech-
nique was discussed. The cell with 20 mm thick YSZ electrolyte
provided 0.78 W cm  2 peak power at 800 °C which is close to that
of slip cast one reported previously [60]. Therefore, the method
was found to be effective and feasible for fabricating the cone-
shaped supports as well as the electrolyte. The stack performance
of cone-shaped NiO/YSZ anode-supported SOFCs fabricated via dip
coating was studied by Bai et al. [62] and, Ding and Liu [63] by
constructing a 2-cell stack with Ag paste as an interconnector and
sealing. Bai et al. [62] reported that the maximum power density
of the single cell with 35.9 mm thick electrolyte was 1.08 W cm  2
while 2-cell stack with 11.6 cm2 total active area provided 3.7 W
peak power. Ding and Liu [63] achieved to fabricate 7 mm thick YSZ
electrolyte on NiO/YSZ support by dip coating and obtained
1.78 W cm  2 peak power density from a single cell at an operation
temperature of 800 °C. 2-cell stack with 10.65 cm2 active area
exhibited around 2.75 W maximum power at the same operating
temperature. The thermal stability of the stack was also investi-
gated in the study. The stack was able to withstand 12 thermal
cycles performed between the room and the operation tempera-
ture of 800 °C. In addition to slip casting and dip coating methods
mentioned above, injection molding [64], phase inversion [65] and
gel-casting [66] techniques are also conducted to fabricate cone-
shaped supports.
The performance evaluation of cone-shaped SOFCs under
methane fuel has also been considered in the literature. Ding et al.
[67], for instance, investigated the electrochemical performance
and stability of cone-shaped anode supported SOFC with tradi-
tional NiO/YSZ anode layer for direct operation with methane. The
single test was subjected to stability tests under various constant
current densities. The test results indicated that the conventional
anode can operate safely at high current density (1.2 A cm  2) since
there was very small coking on the anode after operation with
methane at 700 °C. Ding et al. [68] also fabricated cone-shaped
anode supported cells and tested the durability of the cells under
direct methane fuel at a constant current density of 0.4 W cm  2
and 600 °C for 140 h. No significant performance degradation was
observed with very little carbon deposition detected on the
anodes. A 3-cell stack was also built and tested. Similar electro-
chemical performance was investigated from the stack during
direct utilization of methane. Bai et al. [69] manufactured 11-cell
stack with cone-shaped NiO/YSZ anode supported cells (Fig. 7).
0.9 W cm  3 peak volumetric power density was reported from the
stack under methane fuel. The microstructural investigations
showed different amounts of coking at different locations within
the stack. Ding et al. [70] and Liu et al. [71], on the other hand,
tested cone-shaped SOFC under dimethyl ether (DME) and carbon
monoxide fuels, respectively. Ding et al. [70] reported a 30% per-
formance decrease when DME was used as a fuel instead of
hydrogen at 600 °C. However, the cell with cone-shaped NiO/GDC
anode support was found to be coked easily when directly oper-
ated in DME. Liu et al. [71] developed novel anode material
Ni0.75Fe0.25–5% MgO/YSZ for direct utilization of CO fuel. Experi-
mental stability test results revealed that the Ni0.75Fe0.25–5% MgO/
YSZ anode is much more durable compared to conventional NiO/
YSZ anode and thus demonstrated the feasibility of the developed
anode for SOFCs operated on CO.
2.3. Flat-tube SOFCs
The flat-tube SOFC design is developed by Siemens Westing-
house based on their formerly tubular SOFC. Japan Kyocera and
Korean KIER are the other players in this field. To the best
knowledge of the authors, the transition from tubular to flat-
tubular was first indicated by Hassmann [72] in 2001. The aim of
flat tubular SOFCs is to improve the low power density of the
conventional tubular design by reducing the internal ohmic loss.
The flat tubular design is again a combination of the tubular and
the planar cell structures as shown in Fig. 8. Thus, it may provide
high power density together with high thermal resistance. The
cells are constructed generally on an extruded anode support with
multiple gas channels. The fuel passes through these channels,
whereas the oxidant flows through a conductive porous media
located between unit cells in a stack. In addition, a thin and dense
interconnector film is also coated on one side of unit cells to
separate fuel and oxidant gases and to connect unit cells elec-
trically in a stack.
Since the interconnector is the most critical element of a flat-
tube SOFC, the studies in the literature generally have focused on
the development of interconnector materials for flat-tube SOFCs.
 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121 1109

The studies reviewed on this topic are compared in Table 4 [73–77].
Among them, Kim et al. [73] successfully fabricated NiO/8YSZ anode
supported flat-tube SOFC with a ceramic interconnector.
La0.75Ca0.27CrO3 was chosen as an interconnector material and
coated on the porous anode flat-tube by two different methods i.e.
plasma spray coating and dip coating. X-ray investigations showed
the presence of a secondary phase CaCrO4 formed for the samples
sintered below 1000 °C. However, no secondary phases were
detected for the samples sintered at 1000 °C. In addition, the dense
interconnection layer was achieved when the plasma spray method
was employed. On the contrary, the interconnector layer coated by
dip coating was found to be porous. They also tested the electrical
conductivity of (La0.85Sr0.15)0.9MnO3 dip coated Fecralloy (Fe–20Cr–
5Al) and SUS430 (Fe–16Cr) metallic interconnectors. The electrical
resistance of the coated SUS430 was measured as 148 mΩ cm2 at
750 °C and found to decrease to 43 mΩ cm2 after 450 h operation
due to the phase change in the protective (La0.85Sr0.15)0.9MnO3 layer.
Park et al. [74] developed La doped SrTiO3 interconnector material
for flat-tube SOFCs. For this purpose, Sr0.8La0.2TiO3 and Sr0.7La0.2TiO3
powders were synthesized and screen printed on NiO/8YSZ flat-
tube anode support produced via extrusion. The effects of Sr con-
tent on the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the
interconnector were investigated. Both interconnector materials
showed almost a fully dense structure on the anode support
without delamination after sintering at 1400 °C. Sr0.8La0.2TiO3
exhibited higher thermal expansion and fracture strength
Interconnector
Electrolyte
Anode
Cathode
Anode gas
channels
Fig. 8. Flat-tube SOFC design.
compared to Sr0.7La0.2TiO3. However, the electrical conductivity of
Sr0.7La0.2TiO3 was found to be higher than that of Sr0.8La0.2TiO3
within the SOFC operation temperature range. Park et al. [75] also
developed a multi-layer ceramic interconnector on the porous NiO/
8YSZ anode support by a low cost screen printing methodology. The
unit flat-tube cell was built on the NiO/8YSZ anode support fabri-
cated by extrusion process. After pre-sintering of the anode support
at 1100 °C, 15 mm thick NiO/8YSZ anode functional layer and 8 mm
thick 8YSZ electrolyte layer were dip coated. Then, the two-layered
interconnector with Sr0.7La0.2TiO3 (10 mm) on the fuel side exposed
to a reducing atmosphere and La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (20 mm) on the
cathode side exposed to an oxidizing atmosphere was screen
printed and the half-cell was co-sintered at 1400 °C. The three
layered cathode (25 mm) composed of (La0.85Sr0.15)0.9MnO3/YSZ,
(La0.85Sr0.15)0.9MnO3 and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 was again dip coated
and sintered. The unit flat-tube was 3.6 mm thick, 36.2 mm wide,
150 mm long with 20 holes with 1 mm diameter in the anode
support. The composed interconnector film was found to be highly
conductive and stable in the dual atmosphere (humidified hydrogen
and air). The unit cell produced 360 mW cm  2 maximum power
density at an operation temperature of 750 °C. Pi et al. [76], on the
other hand, focused on the development of a glass reinforced Ag
composite interconnector material for intermediate temperature
flat-tube SOFCs. The glass content in the composite electrolyte (wt%
0–30) was also considered in the study. The composite inter-
connector layer was coated on the flat-tube NiO/8YSZ anode sup-
port via screen printing and sintered at 800 °C. The interconnection
ability of the composite interconnectors with various glass content
was evaluated via phase change, electrical conductivity, gas leakage,
microstructure and performance investigations. It was found that
all composite interconnectors show the dense microstructure with
very low gas leakage whereas pure Ag interconnector contains
many pores. Since the composite interconnector having 10 wt%
glass presented the highest conductivity and phase stability, the
flat-tube cell with Agþ10 wt% glass interconnector layer had the
highest performance of around 275 mW cm  2 peak power density
at 700 °C. Therefore, 10 wt% of glass addition to Ag was found to be
an suitable content for a high-performance anode supported flat-
tubular cell operated below 700 °C. In a similar study, Hosseini et al.
[77] developed (La0.4Ca0.6Ti1 xMnxO3  d) with x¼0.0, 0.2, 0.4,
0.6 compositions as an interconnector material for flat-tube SOFCs.
The interconnectors with various Mn contents were again coated on
NiO/YSZ flat-tube anode support via screen printing and sintered at
950 °C which was determined through thermo-gravimetric

Table 4
Interconnector materials and reported properties for flat tube SOFCs.

Interconnector material Fabrication Coating Coating Reported properties Reference(s)

technique technique

Fecralloy (Fe–20Cr–5Al) – (La0.85Sr0.15)0.9MnO3 Dip coating Electrical resistance:  13.36 Ω cm2 at 750 °C [73]
Fe–16Cr (SUS430) – (La0.85Sr0.15)0.9MnO3 Dip coating Electrical resistance: 148 mΩ cm2 at 750 °C [73]
Electrical resistance: 43 mΩ cm2 after 450 h
La0.75Ca0.27CrO3 Dip coating – – Porous interconnection layer [73]
La0.75Ca0.27CrO3 Plasma spray – – Dense interconnection layer [73]
Sr0.8La0.2TiO3 Screen printing – – Electrical conductivity: 910–1800 Sm  1 at 500–900 °C [74]
Coefficient of thermal expansion: 1.25  10  5 K  1
Flexural strength: 87.2 MPa
Sr0.7La0.3TiO3 Screen printing – Electrical conductivity: 1150–1200 Sm  1 at 500–900 °C [74]
Coefficient of thermal expansion: 1.18  10  5 K  1
Flexural strength: 58 MPa
Sr0.7La0.2TiO3 Screen printing La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 Screen printing Electrical resistance: 25–76 mΩ cm2 at 700–900 °C [75]
Ag-glass composite Screen printing – – Electrical conductivity decreases with glass content [76]
Electrical conductivity: 94.4–359.7 Sm  1 at 800 °C
10 wt% of glass addition to Ag is the optimum content
La0.4Ca0.6–Ti0.4Mn0.6O3 Screen printing – – Electrical conductivity: 12.20 Sm  1 and 2.70 Sm  1 under oxi- [77]
dizing and reducing conditions, respectively
Coefficient of thermal expansion: 1.076  10  5 K  1
1110 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
analyses. The microstructural investigations confirmed the presence
of a dense interconnector layer with 20 mm thickness formed on the
porous anode support for all cases considered. All samples exhibited
a similar thermal expansion coefficient to that of 8YSZ. The inter-
connector with x¼0.6 showed the highest electrical conductivity
under both reducing and oxidizing atmospheres. The flat-tube cell
constructed on 280 mm long, 28 mm wide and 5 mm thick NiO/YSZ
anode support with 15.9 mm thick 8YSZ electrolyte, three layered
cathode similar to that reported by Kim et al. [73] and Park et al.
[75], and 20 mm thick La0.4Ca0.6Ti0.4Mn0.6O3 d interconnector pro-
vided 208 mW cm  2 peak power density at 800 °C under 3%
humidified hydrogen fuel. Thus, La0.4Ca0.6Ti0.4Mn0.6O3  d was found
to have a potential for use as an interconnector for flat-tube SOFCs.
There are numerous other studies in the literature dealing with
various topics related to the flat tube SOFCs. Among them, Kim
et al. [78] tested the electrochemical properties and the long term
stability of different materials as a cathode current collector for
flat-tube SOFCs. For this reason, Ag–Pd, Pt, La0.6Sr0.4CoO3 (LSCo)
and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF) pastes were brush painted on the
Ag wound multi-layered cathode composed of LSM, LSM/YSZ and
LSCF layers in order to improve the contact between the Ag wire
and the cathode. Although the initial performance of the Pt coated
cell is the highest, rapid performance degradation was observed
after an operation at 750 °C for 925 h under a constant current
density of 300 mA cm  2 due to increase in the polarization
resistance. Ag–Pd pastes showed the poorest performance and
long term stability due to the sintering of Ag–Pd particles at 750 °C
which also negatively affects the cathode polarization resistance.
The cell coated with LSCo, on the other hand, provided the highest
performance and the best long term stability. This cell was also
subjected to thermal cycles with a cooling and heating rate of
150 °C h  1. However, a stable performance was reported even
after two complete thermal cycles. Therefore, wound silver wire
with LSCo paste was suggested as a useful cathode current col-
lecting structure for anode supported flat-tube SOFCs. Horita et al.
[79] visualized the oxide ion diffusion at (La,Sr)FeO3 cathode/CeO2
interlayer/YSZ electrolyte interfaces of three-cell flat-tube stack
supplied by Kyocera Corporation (Japan) via 18O isotope labeling
method and secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis. The sec-
ondary ion intensities of 18O demonstrated different 18O distribu-
tion with different cells in the stack. This behavior was attributed
to the 16O/18O exchange rate on the cathode surface and the
quantity of 18O2 fed to the cells. They concluded that the local
current density of different cells may vary cell to cell even though
they were adjusted to operate a constant current density. Lim et al.
[80] and Lee et al. [81] reported the fabrication and operation of
1 kW class anode supported flat-tube SOFC stack. The cell had
90 cm2 active area and three ribs inside the anode support flat-
tube. NiO/YSZ anode support was fabricated via extrusion while
8YSZ electrolyte and again three layered cathode (LSM/YSZ–LSM–
LSCF) were coated by a slurry dip coating method. Each cell was
brazed with a metal cap via the induction brazing process. The
stack was built with 30 serially connected unit bundles, each
having two flat-tube cells connected in parallel by means of a
flexible metal tube. The stack exhibited 921 W peak power at an
operating temperature of 750 °C under 3% humidified hydrogen
(30 SLPM) as a fuel and air (110 SLPM) as an oxidant. Recently,
Mushtaq et al. [82] a flat tubular SOFC 5-cell sub module with
4 cm2 active area and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8(LSCF)–Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95/
LSCF/LSCF–La0.6Sr0.4CoO3 (LSCo) multi-layer cathode using
vacuum slurry dip coating and screen printing. The effect of LSCFT
thickness was investigated. The experimental results indicated
that the optimum cathode thickness should be 57 mm. Moreover,
30% improvement in the cell performance was reported when
20 mm-thick LSCo current collection layer was applied on the
cathode surface.
There exist also a few numerical studies on flat-tube SOFCs
available in the literature [83–89]. Among them, Lu et al. [83]
modeled the heat/mass transfer and fluid flow for the leftmost and
second left chambers of a single cathode supported flat-tube SOFC
with four chambers. The continuity, momentum, mass and energy
conservation equations were then solved numerically. The tem-
perature, velocity and species concentration profiles were
obtained for the two computational domains considered. The
estimated results were used to predict the overall performance
and stack optimization [84]. The effects of the number of ribs, the
rib resistance, the interconnector resistance, the stack geometry
and the cathode layer thickness on a flat-tube SOFC were then
numerically investigated. A comparison between flat-tube and
tubular SOFC was also provided in the study. The study mainly
showed that the flat-tube SOFC exhibits higher performance than
that of the tubular one with the same active area. The estimated
results also showed that increasing the number of ribs improves
the cell performance, whereas the height of the flat-tube and the
thickness of the ribs within the cathode electrode do not have a
significant effect on the cell performance. They suggested that the
interconnector resistance and the cathode thickness should be
reduced in order to improve the overall flat-tube cell performance.
Park et al. [85] numerically studied the effects of channel design
on the current density and the temperature distribution of anode
supported flat-tube SOFC. Five different channel designs were
investigated for this purpose. The anode supported flat-tube cell
with 13 circular (⌀ 1.8 mm) channels was selected as the base case.
This channel design provided an average current density of
3291.5 Am  2 at 0.7 V. In the second design, rectangular channels
(1.8 mm  6 mm) were proposed and the number of channels was
reduced to 3 in order to avoid the possible channel entrance
blockage by the sealing material and to provide evenly distributed
fuel. However, the average current density of the new design was
found to be lower than that of the base cell. The channel width in
the third design was gradually increased from the inlet to the
outlet (6–10 mm) and an improved average current density of
3135.4 Am  2 at 0.7 V was reported. The fourth design was offered
to reduce the pressure drop by narrowing the inlet (4 mm) and
widening the outlet (12 mm). However, the current density of the
design 4 was lower than that of design 3. The design 5 reversed
the inlet and the outlet of design 3 and exhibited 3283.14 Am  2
average current density at an operation voltage of 0.7 V. Park et al.
[86] also provided a correlation between the flat-tube perfor-
mance and the channel shape in the viewpoints of the cell per-
formance and the mechanical properties. They suggested
decreasing the channel diameter and increasing the anode support
thickness in order to improve the mechanical performance of a
flat-tube SOFC. Both resulted in a decrease in the cell performance.
However, the rate of decrease was found to be relatively lower
when the support thickness was increased. Therefore, they con-
cluded that the mechanical strength of the flat-tube SOFC can be
improved by increasing the support thickness with sacrificing an
acceptable performance loss. In their next study, the effects of the
operation temperature and the hydrogen flowrate on the cell
performance were also numerically studied [87]. They showed
that the performance of a flat-tube SOFC can be enhanced by
increasing the operating temperature and the hydrogen flowrate.
Choi et al. [88], on the other hand, numerically examined the role
of the anode/cathode functional layer in a flat-tube SOFC
depending on the functional layer particle size and thickness. They
found that TPBs and the mass transfer resistance are particularly
significant parameters and the performance of a flat-tube SOFC
can be improved by fabricating a functional layer with optimized
thickness and particle sizes. For the given operating conditions,
20 mm thick anode/cathode functional layers composed of 0.5 mm
sized particles demonstrated the optimal cell performance.
 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121 1111

Cathode

Reference(s)
Anode Electrolyte

[100]

[102]
[103]
[104]
[101]
[93]
[94]
[95]
[96]

[98]
[99]
[97]
Maximum power density
Oxidant

Fuel

0.138 W cm  2

 0.3 W cm  3
0.35 W cm  3

0.67 W cm  3
1–2 W cm  3
2–3 W cm  3
0.3 W cm  3

0.5 W cm  2
0.5 W cm  2

0.3 W cm  2
1.2 W cm  3
2 W cm  3
hydrogen
hydrogen
hydrogen
hydrogen

hydrogen
hydrogen

hydrogen
hydrogen
hydrogen
Humidified
Humidified
Humidified
Humidified

Humidified
Humidified

Humidified
Humidified
Humidified
Hydrogen
Hydrogen

H2–N2
Fuel
Operation temperature (°C)
Fig. 9. Honeycomb SOFC design.

2.4. Honeycomb SOFCs

600–650
700-750
Like the integrated planar, the cone-shaped and the flat-tube

600
600
600

800
800

600
600
800
850

850
SOFC designs, the honeycomb design also offers the advantages of
both tubular and planar SOFC designs. The design provides high

Fabrication technique for the cell support

mechanical strength, thus durability and high volumetric power
density. The structure is made of honeycomb channels used as fuel
and oxidant routes in an alternating sequence as shown in Fig. 9.
The honeycomb structure can be either electrolyte or electrode
supported. However, the interconnection and the electrical lead
are the main issues with this design. The SOFC with honeycomb
structure was invented by ABB and patented in 1992 as reported
by Wetzko et al. [90] who described the concept as “condensed-
tubes” like structure. They successfully fabricated and operated

Slip casting
Slip casting

Slip casting
Extrusion
Extrusion
Extrusion
Extrusion
Extrusion

Extrusion
Extrusion
honeycomb SOFC stacks based on 8YSZ electrolyte honeycomb

Gel-cast
support produced via extrusion. The stack composed of 5 honey-
comb unit cells with 4  4 quadratic cell structure showed a
–

power density of 0.1 W cm  2 at 1000 °C under hydrogen as a fuel.

Electrolyte supported
Electrolyte supported
Electrolyte supported

Electrolyte supported
Cathode supported
Cathode supported
Cathode supported
Cathode supported
Cathode supported

Cathode supported
However, low open circuit potentials were reported as a result of Cathode supported
Anode supported

the open porosity within the electrolyte layer. Xia et al. [91] and
Cell structure

Zha et al. [92] developed functionally graded cathodes for hon-

eycomb SOFCs. Both studies indicated that honeycomb 8YSZ
electrolyte supported cell with a graded cathode composed of
4 different layers (i.e. LSM-GDC, LSM-LSCF-GDC, LSCF-GDC and
(La0.8Sr0.2)0.97MnO3
(La0.8Sr0.2)0.97MnO3

(La0.8Sr0.2)0.97MnO3
(La0.8Sr0.2)0.97MnO3

LSCF) shows the best electrochemical performance.

Since the performance of 8YSZ electrolyte supported honey-
Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3
Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3

Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3
La0.7Sr0.3MnO3

La0.7Sr0.3MnO3

comb SOFCs was low due to employing thick electrolyte layer as a

A performance comparison of the honeycomb SOFCs.

LaSrMnO3

LaSrMnO3
LaSrMnO3

support, researchers have focused on enhancing the honeycomb

Cathode

SOFC performance by fabricating electrode supported structure or

employing alternative electrolyte materials providing relatively
high ionic conductivities. Table 5 provides a summary of the
NiFe91–LSGM

materials, fabrication methods and performance of the honey-

NiO: Fe3O4
NiO: Fe3O4
NiO–8YSZ

NiO–8YSZ
NiO–GDC
NiO–GDC
NiO–GDC
NiO–GDC
NiO–GDC

NiO–GDC
NiO–GDC

comb SOFCs studies reviewed in this paper [93–104]. Yamaguchi

Anode

et al. [93–97,102, 103,105,106], for instance, developed cathode

supported honeycomb SOFCs with quadratic and circular struc-
La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3
La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3

La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3

tures in order to improve the volumetric power density by redu-

cing the ohmic loss i.e. using relatively thin electrolyte layer. Their
cell comprised LSM cathode honeycomb support fabricated by
Cell materials

Sc0.9Ce0.1ZrO2
Sc0.9Ce0.1ZrO2
3YSZ–8YSZ
Electrolyte

extrusion, 10 mol% Sc2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (10ScSZ) electrolyte and

NiO/GDC anode. Both the electrolyte and the anode layers were
Table 5

8YSZ
ScSZ
ScSZ
ScSZ
ScSZ
ScSZ

coated via dip coating and slurry injection methods. They reported
high volumetric power density above 1 W cm  3 and 2 W cm  3 at
1112 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
600 °C and 650 °C, respectively under wet hydrogen fuel [93].
They also tested the durability of their LSM supported SOFC for the
rapid startup operation with heating rates of 10 °C min  1 and
100 °C min  1 and concluded that the cathode supported honey-
comb SOFC structure has structural durability even for
100 °C min  1 heating rate [94]. The honeycomb SOFC tested had
0.24 mm wall thickness, 1.60 mm channel size and 26 cm2 cm  3
effective electrode area per unit honeycomb volume. Moreover,
they built a stack with two cathode-supported honeycomb cells
and measured its performance [95]. The single honeycomb units
were connected via a metallic interconnector to form the stack as
shown in Fig. 10 [95]. The stack exhibited 0.6 W cm  3 volumetric
power density at an operation temperature of 600 °C. They later
showed that the cell performance can be increased to 2 W cm  3
by applying slurry injection method for the electrolyte and anode
coating [97]. It is also possible to fabricate anode supported hon-
eycomb SOFC as presented by Fukushima et al. [98]. They suc-
cessfully fabricated and tested 0.5 mm thick NiO/8YSZ anode
supported honeycomb cells with 3  3 square channels (6 mm).
0.22 W cm  3 peak power density was obtained at an operation
temperature of 850 °C with 22% fuel utilization under
40 cm3 min  1 hydrogen fuel and 800 cm3 min  1 air. Zhong et al.
[99,100,107], on the other hand, reported an improved honeycomb
SOFC performance by using La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3 (LSGM) elec-
trolyte support instead of 8YSZ. Unlike previous studies men-
tioned, the slip casting technique was employed for the fabrication
of 1 mm and 0.5 mm thick LSGM honeycomb supports. NiFe-LSGM
and SSC (Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3) was selected as the anode and the
cathode material, respectively. The cell performance was found to
increase with the decreasing wall thickness as expected. 0.5 mm
thick LSGM supported honeycomb cell with one channel showed
0.5 W cm  2 maximum power density at 700 °C while the cell with
5 channels while the cell with 5 channels provided only 1.3 W
maximum power output at 800 °C [99]. They also constructed a
stack by using two single channel honeycombs in series [100]. Like
Yamaguchi et al. [95], a metallic interconnector was conducted to
connect single cells. The stack produced 1.8 W at an operation
temperature of 800 °C. Different from Yamaguchi et al. [95] and
Zhong et al. [100], Wang et al. [101] tested silver metal as both
interconnection and sealing for honeycomb SOFCs. The OCV of the
stack with two honeycomb cells (2.19 V) serially connected and
sealed with silver indicated a good cell connection as well as a
desirable sealing. The stack was also subjected to short term sta-
bility tests and showed minor degradation. Therefore, the pro-
posed stacking method was found to be useful for honeycomb
SOFCs. On the other hand, Zhong et al. [104] proposed silver mesh
as a current collector. The results revealed that a reasonably high
Fig. 10. A photo of the 2-cell honeycomb SOFC stack [95].
power density can be obtained by using silver current collector
instead of Pt mesh.
2.5. Micro-tubular SOFCs
The tubular SOFCs which have a tube diameter smaller than 3–
5 mm are called micro-tubular SOFCs. Therefore, micro-tubular
SOFC can be simply viewed as a geometrically modified tubular
one by reducing the tube diameter to the millimeter scale. In spite
of such a simple modification, there exist two dramatic benefits of
micro-tubular SOFCs compared to classical tubular SOFCs. The first
is the relatively high power density since the power density scales
with the reciprocal of the tube diameter. The second is the high
thermal shock resistance which allows micro-tubes to be heated
within a minute to the operating temperature of around 800 °C
without any damage. On the other hand, the classical tubular and
planar SOFCs are very susceptible to failure when they are rapidly
heated. These advantages enable rapid startup along with a high
power density and thus make micro-tubular SOFCs suitable for
mobile applications. However, it is not easy to collect the electrical
current generated in the cell especially from the bore side due to
the small micro-tube diameter.
The micro-tubular SOFC concept was invented by Kevin Ken-
dall, who successfully extruded 8YSZ tubes around 1 mm diameter
in the early 1990s [108]. After more than 20 years of development
period and switching to anode supported micro-tubular cell
design, Kendall et al. [109] have recently tested their 250 W micro-
tubular SOFC in Skywalker X8 unmanned air vehicle having 2 m
wingspan. They reported 55% fuel utilization under propane fuel
with a reformer based on catalytic partial oxidation fuel proces-
sing. The tubes were supported on extruded NiO/8YSZ cermet
anode with 10 μm YSZ electrolyte and 6 μm SDC interlayer coated
a with 50 μm LSCF cathode.
Since, there can be found several review articles on micro-
tubular SOFCs [108,110–115], only some recent studies are high-
lighted in this paper. Like in other cell designs, anode supported
micro-tubular structure is commonly adopted to improve the
power output by reducing the electrolyte thickness. On the other
hand, the conventional extrusion process results in a thick wall
thickness limiting the diffusion of the fuel. Therefore, the current
micro-tubular SOFC studies have focused on the development of
micro-tubular hollow fiber SOFCs prepared by a combined spin-
ning/phase inversion followed by sintering technique. The tech-
nique provides a thin wall thickness, reducing the polarization
resistance. The typical process comprises the preparation of a
spinning slurry with ceramic powders, pressurizing the solution
into an internal coagulant bath, obtaining the hollow fiber pre-
cursors by a spinneret and completing the solidification and phase
inversion in an external coagulant bath followed by a high tem-
perature sintering. Unlike the extruded ones, the hollow fibers
show an asymmetrical structure consisting of a relatively dense
sponge-like structure between two layers with finger-like pores.
The size and the number of the pores are determined by the
process parameters. Therefore, the fabrication parameters should
be carefully decided to obtain the desired final structure.
One of the first papers on hollow fiber SOFC structure was
published by Yang et al. [116]. They successfully fabricated NiO/
3YSZ hollow fibers with around 1 mm diameter by phase inversion
and sintering as an anode support for micro-tubular SOFCs and
investigated the effects of sintering temperature on the micro-
structural, electrical and mechanical properties. The electrical and
mechanical performances of the samples were found to increase
with the sintering temperature while the porosity decreases.
Although the thickness of NiO/3YSZ supports sintered at 1350 °C
was around 200 mm, the bending strength of the reduced support
with 44.5% porosity was measured as 118.6 MPa which was found
 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
to be comparable to that of the tubular anode fabricated by
extrusion or gel casting. The effects of initial NiO content on the
microstructural, electrical and mechanical properties of NiO/8YSZ
hollow fibers were studied by Droushiotis et al. [117]. The bending
strength decreased while the porosity and electrical conductivity
tended to increase with increasing NiO content. Similar to Yang
et al. [116], the electrical conductivity was found to be a strong
function of the sintering temperature and increase with the sin-
tering temperature. Droushiotis et al. [118] showed that it is also
possible to fabricate dual layer hollow fibers in a phase inversion
assisted single step co-extrusion process. They produced the dual
layer hollow fibers including NiO/GDC anode support and GDC
electrolyte via single step so-sintering and coated with LSCF/GDC
cathode to construct micro-tubular SOFC. The cell showed
0.08 W cm  2 peak power at 550 °C. The low performance was
attributed to the poor current collection, especially due to the
silver wire spring inside the tube. Moreover, the lower OCV values
were measured as a result of the tiny crack in the electrolyte layer
created during the sintering of the cathode layer. They also
investigated the effects of co-sintering temperature on the
mechanical, structural and electrical properties of the anode sup-
ported electrolyte dual layer hollow fiber and recommended a co-
sintering temperature of 1500 °C [119]. They later showed that the
thickness of the electrolyte layer can be controlled by adjusting the
extrusion rate and successfully manufactured a dual layer hollow
fiber with 10 mm thick, dense GDC electrolyte with an extrusion
rate of 0.5 ml min  1 [120]. Although this fiber exhibited the low-
est mechanical strength and gas tightness property among the
considered cases, the highest electrochemical performance of
1.11 W cm  2 was obtained at 600 °C from the cell constructed on
this fiber after brush painting of multi-layered cathode due to
having the thinnest electrolyte layer. There exist also other studies
of the same research group focused mainly on the design of an
anode current collector [121], the performance improvement
[122,123], the fabrication of Ni/Ni–8YSZ dual layer hollow fiber
[124] and the comparison between the anode and electrolyte
supported micro-tubular hollow fiber SOFCs [125]. The dual layer
hollow fibers based on NiO/8YSZ–8YSZ were also studied by Meng
et al. [126,127]. They also successfully fabricated and tested LSM/
8YSZ–8YSZ dual layer hollow fibers for the cathode supported
micro-tubular SOFCs. The cathode supported cell provided
290 mW cm  2 peak power density at an operation temperature of
850 °C. The performance of the cell was found to be limited mainly
by high polarization resistance of the cathode. Li et al. [128], on the
other hand, have recently reported the fabrication of NiO/GDC–
NiO dual layer hollow fibers. The structure consists of an outer
NiO/GDC layer as the anode and NiO as the anode current col-
lecting layer. Therefore, an improved electrical conductivity, thus a
better current collection was proposed the design. They also suc-
cessfully fabricated triple-layer hollow fibers including GDC as an
electrolyte, NiO/GDC (wt%: 40/60) as an anode functional layer and
NiO/GDC (wt%: 60/40) as an anode layer by employing single step
phase inversion assisted co-extrusion/co-sintering technique
[129]. Yin et al. [130] reported highly asymmetric 8YSZ hollow
fibers by a modified phase inversion technique during which a
mixture of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone solvent and de-ionized water
is used as the internal coagulant instead of water alone. The
resultant structure possessed a dense skin layer with 3–5 mm
thickness and a thicker porous sub-layer with a surface porosity of
28.8%. The highly asymmetric 8YSZ hollow fibers fabricated in the
study were considered to be more suitable compared with 8YSZ
hollow fibers prepared by the conventional phase inversion
method, since it has a thin dense layer serving as the electrolyte
and a porous layer which can be infiltrated by a catalyst. Othman
et al. [131,132], on the other hand, studied the effects of ethanol
addition as a non-solvent to the spinning suspension on the
1113
morphological properties of Ni/GDC anode hollow fibers. They
demonstrated that the ethanol addition suppressed the formation
of finger-like pores which significantly affect the mechanical, gas
permeation and electrical properties of the hollow fiber anode.
Similar results were also concluded by Meng et al. [126,133]. As
the ethanol content in the spinning solution was increased, the
mechanical strength and the electrical conductivity were
improved as a result of the decreasing porosity. The hollow fibers
formed with suspensions containing 15–20% ethanol were con-
sidered as the best option in the view point of the hollow fiber
porosity required for the reactant diffusion in micro-tubular
SOFCs. Ren et al. [134], on the other hand, studied the effect of
poly ethylene glycol (PEG) addition to the anode support slurry
prepared for the phase inversion. The cell fabricated with PEG-
4000 additive showed 0.704 W cm  2 maximum power density
under humidified hydrogen fuel at an operation temperature of
600 °C while that of the cell without PEG-4000 was measured as
only 0331 W cm  2. The difference in the cell performance was
explained by the presence of PEG in the anode support slurry
which influences the final anode structure by generating finger
like pores increasing the gas permeation of the anode support.
Recently, Li et al. [135] reported single step phase inversion
assisted co-extrusion technique for the fabrication of electrolyte-
anode functional layer-anode triple-layer hollow fibers for micro-
tubular SOFCs. The effect of NiO–GDC anode functional layer
thickness (16.9–52.7 mm) was considered in the study. The anode
functional layer thickness in the range of 17–33 mm was found to
improve the cell performance and the highest peak performance
of 1.21 W cm  2 was reported at 600 °C under the pure hydrogen
fuel. Liu et al. [136] also focused on the effect of anode functional
layer on the cell performance. The cell performance was found to
increase from 0.594 W cm  2 to 832 W cm  2 at 750 °C under
humidified hydrogen by the application of NiO–YSZ anode func-
tional layer. The effect of the cathode functional layer for cathode-
supported hollow fiber micro-tubular SOFCs, on the other hand,
was studied by Meng et al. [137]. The application of
La0.8Sr0.2MnO3  δ–8YSZ cathode functional layer was found to be
effective to improve the cell performance. The increase in the cell
performance was due to decreased polarization resistance as
indicated by the impedance measurements.
3. Structurally modified cell designs
3.1. Novel electrolyte designs
The electrolyte supported cells provide several advantages
compared to the anode supported cells, such as less susceptible to
failure due to anode reduction and re-oxidation cycles known as
redox and offering dense sealing regions. However, the perfor-
mance of the electrolyte supported SOFC is relatively low due to
employing thick electrolyte layer as the primary mechanical sup-
port and thus relatively a high operation temperature is required
in order to obtain acceptable cell performances. Therefore, the
current trend in the electrolyte supported SOFCs is to fabricate
electrolytes containing thin and thick regions. The thick regions
(150–200 mm) act as a mechanical support while the thin regions
(30–50 mm) provide higher electrochemical performance due to
reduced oxide ion transfer path. Table 6 summarizes the some of
the novel electrolyte design studies in the literature [138–144].
This technology has been developed by NexTech Materials, Ltd. for
about ten years and the design is called as FlexCell. The FlexCell is
based on a two-layer membrane having a thin electrolyte layer
mechanically supported by another electrolyte layer in the form of
a honeycomb mesh as shown in Fig. 11 [138]. Approximately 70%
of the electrolyte within the active area is thin enabling high
1114 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

Table 6
A comparison of SOFCs with novel electrolyte designs.

Electrolyte Cut-off pattern Vol% of thin electrolyte in the Performance Reference(s)

active region
Base cell Cell with novel Operation
electrolyte temperature

– Hexagonal 70 – 0.53 W cm  2 800 [138,139]

(Sc2O3)0.1(CeO2)0.01(ZrO2)0.89 Grate type 18–40 0.485 W cm  2 0.5-0.8 W cm  2 750 [140]
(Sc2O3)0.1(AlO2)0.01(ZrO2)0.89 Circular 30 0.4 W cm  2 0.54 W cm  2 750 [141]
(Sc2O3)0.1(AlO2)0.01(ZrO2)0.89 Rectangular 30 0.4 W cm  2 0.55 W cm  2 750 [141]
(Sc2O3)0.1(AlO2)0.01(ZrO2)0.89 Triangular 30 0.4 W cm  2 0.57 W cm  2 750 [141]
8YSZ Filleted 24–30 0.35 W cm  2 0.43–0.479 W cm  2 750 [142]
triangular
8YSZ Circular 30–45 0.223 W cm  2 0.312 W cm  2 700 [143]
3YSZ Filleted  24 0.199 W cm  2 0.242 W cm  2 750 [144]
triangular

Fig. 11. Example of a FlexCell membrane (without electrodes) [138].
performance. The electrodes, on the other hand, are deposited via
spray deposition methods. It was reported that the scale-up of
FlexCell to a nominal area of 1200 cm2 providing 400 W power
output was successfully completed [139].
Berke and Walter [145] proposed a macro scale model for
FlexCell design and concluded that their model can be used to
design cells with improved mechanical robustness without sacri-
ficing the electrochemical performance. They also developed a
meso-scale model which is able to compute the stress and the
strain distributions as a function of the position [146]. They esti-
mated the maximum meso-scale first principal stresses by con-
sidering 188 different meso-scale geometries in total with various
hex geometries and placements under different loading condi-
tions. The size and the shape of the hexes were found to be sig-
nificant parameters influencing the first maximum principal
stress. It was also shown that when the ratio of the thin area to the
total area is less than or equal to 70%, the stress level is decreasing
by employing the hexes as circular as possible.
Timurkutluk et al. [140–142] also performed experimental and
numerical studies on their novel electrolytes developed similar to
FlexCell. However, their electrolytes are different from FlexCell
design in that the electrolyte has three layers comprising a dense
and thin electrolyte layer (  50 mm) sandwiched between two
50 mm thick mesh electrolyte layers having different cutoff
patterns instead of a two-layer membrane. First, they proposed
grate type electrolytes and studied the effect of the percentage of
the thin region within the active area on the cell performance
[140]. It was found that the cell having the highest amount of thin
regions provides the highest cell performance which was more
than twice the standard electrolyte supported cell performance
having the same total thickness of 150 mm. The improvement in
the cell performance was explained by the decrease in the ohmic
and polarization losses due to partly reduced electrolyte thickness
and increased number of TPBs as a result of the increase in the
electrolyte/electrode contact area, respectively. However, the
mechanical performance was adversely affected when the ratio of
the thin regions to the total regions within the active area is
increased. Therefore, they modified their electrolyte design by
employing smaller triangular, rectangular and circular cutoff pat-
terns instead of the long channel like ones for the mesh electrolyte
layers [141]. The percent of thin electrolyte layer in the active
region was kept constant as 30% in the study and the effects of the
cutoff patterns on the mechanical and electrochemical perfor-
mance of the electrolyte layer were investigated. The electrolyte
having triangular patterns showed the highest peak power at all
operating temperatures considered since it provides the highest
electrolyte/electrode contact area, but it exhibited the lowest
flexural strength due to sharp edges of the triangles. Then, they
improved the mechanical performance of the electrolyte having
triangular cutoff patterns by filleting the corners and studied the
effects of fillet radius on the mechanical and electrochemical
performance of the novel electrolyte [142]. Similar to the study of
Berke and Walter [146], the mechanical performance improved
with increasing the fillet radii i.e. making the cutoff patterns as
circular as possible. It was found that the strength of the novel
electrolyte can be increased by 26.2% with sacrificing only 10.2%
decrease in the performance. Palaci and Timurkutluk [143]
developed stair-step-type electrolytes to further improve the cell
performance. The electrolyte containing nine layers was produced
such that the ratio of the volumetric percentage of the removed
parts in the mesh electrolyte layers is increasing gradually from
30% to 45% from the thin electrolyte surface. Thus, this design
allows fabricating novel electrolytes having a higher amount of
thin regions in the active area. The performance of the cell with
the novel electrolyte was found to be 40% higher than that of the
standard electrolyte supported cell. The mechanical performance
of the novel electrolyte, however, was lower than that of the
standard electrolyte support. The low mechanical performance of
the novel electrolyte was again attributed to the partly reduced
thickness. Recently, Celik et al. [144] showed that the cell fabri-
cation cost may be reduced by employing 3YSZ electrolyte instead
of 8YSZ without sacrificing the mechanical strength. However, the
cell based on 3YSZ electrolyte exhibited 30% lower performance
when compared to that of the cell with 8YSZ electrolyte.
 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121 1115

3.2. Wet impregnated/infiltrated (nanostructured) cells

As aforementioned before, the anode or the cathode electrode Dead zonne/isolated TPB
T
of SOFC contains generally co-sintered catalyst and electrolyte
materials in order to improve the cell performance by increasing Catalyst pphase
the length of active TPBs. This electrode structure is generally
achieved by simply mixing the suitable catalyst powders with the Electrolytte phase
electrolyte powders at a certain ratio. Unlike to the macro-level
SOFC simulation studies where the electrodes are usually assumed Interconn
nector
to be homogenous, the real SOFC electrodes are porous hetero-
Electrolytte layer
geneous materials. Thus, the electrochemical reactions can be
expected to be also nonhomogeneous due to the dead zones/iso-
lated TPBs formed during the fabrication processes leading to
decrease in the number of TPBs. Therefore, it is essential that each
phase within the TPBs must be a part of a percolating network in
order to contribute to the electrode performance. The number of
dead zones may vary cell to cell depending on the fabrication
parameters such as the electrode composition, the powder size,
the slurry mixing time, the slurry viscosity, the fabrication tech-
nique involved and even the environmental conditions during the
fabrication. This change in the number of dead zones within the
electrodes may explain the performance fluctuations between two
cells which are thought to be identical cells and this is the main
problem that most of the SOFC researchers have encountered
especially during the scale-up studies.
Some possible dead zone formations are illustrated in Fig. 12.
An example of ideal electrode microstructure is given in Fig. 12(a).
It is seen that there is no dead zone, thus neither the ionic nor the
electronic transfer pathways through the electrode are restricted.
On the other hand, blocked electronic conduction and limited ionic
conduction due to the formation of different dead zones can be
observed in Fig. 12(b) and (c), respectively. Therefore, nano-size
ionic and/or electronic conductive phases should be introduced
into the electrode structure depending on the defect type to
improve the cell performance by increasing the number of the
electrochemical active sites. For this purpose, wet impregnation /
infiltration method is generally employed in the literature. The
technique is based on placing a drop of a solution on the top of the Fig. 12. An example of ideal electrode structure (a), dead zone/isolated TPBs:
blocked electronic conduction (b) and dead zone/isolated TPBs: blocked ionic
porous electrodes which infiltrate the entire electrode by capillary
conduction (c).
action after a number of repeated steps. The system is annealed at
a temperature lower than the usual sintering temperature to form
the number of TPBs and influences the mass transfer. Therefore, an
nano-sized particles around the main structure of the electrode. It
optimized performance should be achieved by a reasonable por-
is also possible to impregnate anode/cathode catalyst directly into
osity with a sufficient number of TPBs.
the porous electrolyte backbone via infiltration. The porous elec-
Because the oxygen electrode or the oxygen reduction reaction is
trolyte structure ensures the ionic conduction throughout the
much more problematic in SOFCs, most of the studies have focused
entire electrode domain, whereas the overall electronic conduc-
on the improvement of the most common LSM cathode perfor-
tion can be gained via the catalyst formed around the porous
mance via mixed conductor infiltration. Jiang and Wang [156], for
electrolyte grains if a continuous network between the infiltrated
instance, reported that the polarization resistance of 5.8 mg cm  2
catalysts is achieved. Since there exist several review articles on
GDC-impregnated LSM cathode 56 times lower than that of the pure
the fabrication of SOFCs by using the infiltration technique [147–
155], some recent studies are highlighted in this review. LSM cathode at the same temperature. Similarly, Xu et al. [157]
performed polarization measurements for SDC-impregnated and
3.2.1. Mixed conductive phase infiltration pure LSM cathodes. The polarization resistance of the cathode was
Wet impregnation/infiltration of the nano-sized mixed (elec- found to show a significant reduction from 5.4 Ωcm2 to 0.23 Ωcm2 at
tronic and ionic) conductor phases into the porous electrode 700 °C after 50 wt% SDC infiltration. Chen et al. [158] compared the
structure is mainly employed to possibly convert the dead zones cathode performances of pure LSM, LSM/8YSZ by solid mixing and
into electrochemically active sites or to enhance the cell perfor- LSM/SDC by impregnation. Among them, 42 wt% SDC-impregnated
mance by increasing the number of TPBs. In this aspect, Gd- or Sm- LSM cathode exhibited the highest performance of 1.25 W cm  2 at
doped CeO2 (GDC/SDC) is the most common oxide used for both 800 °C when the stationary air was used as an oxidant. They later
anode and cathode impregnation. The amount of infiltrating studied the effect of SDC loading on the cell performance [159]. The
phases, the structural properties of the backbone to be infiltrated results showed that the cell performance tends to increase with
and the infiltration process parameters including the heat treat- increasing the SDC loading up to some point. However, the cathode
ment temperature seem to be most significant factors affecting the with a higher SDC content resulted in lower cell performance due to
structural and electrochemical properties of the final electrode. mass transfer problems arisen from the relatively lower cathode
Especially, controlling the final porosity is very important in order porosity as a result of the high SDC content. Zhang et al. [160], on the
to obtain high electrochemical performance since it determines other hand, studied the effect of firing temperature on the
1116 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

performance of the LSM/SDC cathode prepared via infiltration
method. For this purpose, the impregnated SDC was heated at 700–
850 °C for 2 h. The cell performance was found to increase with
increasing the firing temperature up to 800 °C due to the enhanced
bonding between the LSM and SDC phases as well as between SDC
particles. The further increase in the firing temperature adversely
affected the cell performance due to the grain growth of SDC phases
which lowers both the porosity and the number of TPBs. Beside
other LSM-based cathode studies [161–163], there exist also other
impregnated-cathode studies in literature [164–171]. Some of their
results are summarized in Table 7 including those of LSM-based
ones. It is clearly seen that wet impregnation of mixed conductive
phases into the cathode backbone results in a significant perfor-
mance improvement. Similar performance enhancements were
reported in the studies considering the mixed conductor infiltrated
anodes [172–177] and both electrodes [178–180].
3.2.2. Catalyst infiltration
Wet impregnation is also conducted to infiltrate both catalysts
into the porous electrolyte layer. The required three-layer elec-
trolyte structure composed of a dense electrolyte layer sand-
wiched between two porous electrolyte layers is generally fabri-
cated via tape casting routes. The porous upper and bottom elec-
trolyte layers can be achieved by adding a certain amount of pore
former to the corresponding tape casting slurry. The sandwiched
structure after the lamination step is then co-fired to obtain the
final structure. In addition to the studies on the fabrication of
asymmetric SOFCs prepared by wet impregnations of different
electrodes [181–185], this three-layer electrolyte structure is also
commonly adopted to produce symmetric SOFCs which employ
the same catalyst for both electrodes [186–192]. It is also possible
to infiltrate single anode/cathode electrode after the construction
of two-layer electrolyte with dense and porous layers. The amount
of the infiltrated phases is very significant for the electrode con-
ductivity and electrochemical activity. In general, there is an
optimum loading value above which the electrode polarization
resistance is relatively high due to thin and dense film coated
porous backbone restricting the number of TPBs and below which
the conductivity is inadequate due to poorly connected infiltrated
particles.
The recent studies on the development of nanostructured
anodes have generally concentrated on the development of alter-
native nickel free anode materials and the enhancement of the
sulfur/carbon tolerance of the anode by modifying the conven-
tional nickel based anodes or proposing new anode materials.
Some of them are listed in Table 8. Among them, Yoon et al. [193]
investigated the phase stability and electrochemical properties of
La0.75Sr0.25Cr0.5Mn0.5O3  δ (LSCM) impregnated LSGM as an anode
material for SOFCs. No formation of secondary phases between
LSCM and LSGM scaffold was reported after firing at 900 °C.
However, some secondary phases such as LaSrGa3O7 and LaSrGaO4
were observed above a firing temperature higher than 1000 °C.
The effect of the LSCM content on the anode performance was
studied by measuring the area specific resistances of the sym-
metrical anode half cells. The results indicated that the ASR tends
to decrease with increasing the LSCM loading up to 33 wt%. For
loadings higher than 33 wt%, the ASR was found to be almost
saturated because of the complete coverage of porous LSGM
scaffold surface by nano-sized LSCM particles. Therefore, the LSCM
content was optimized as 33 wt%. The cell with 33 wt% LSCM
infiltrated anode and Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.2Fe0.8O3  δ cathode provided
0.214 W cm  2 at 800 °C. Li et al. [194] demonstrated that the
performance of LSCM anode can be improved by adding cobalt.
The effect of cobalt loading on the cell performance was also
considered in the study. Similar to previous findings, the cell
performance increased up to a cobalt loading of 1.66 mg cm  2. At
higher Co loadings, blocked TPBs in the anode microstructure were
observed since the surfaces of LSCM backbone were covered by Co
particles. The cell with pure LSCM anode exhibited 58.7 mW cm  2
peak power density at an operation temperature of 850 °C in dry
hydrogen, whereas 1.66 mg cm  2 cobalt infiltrated cell showed
196.2 mW cm  2 maximum power density at the same operating
conditions. Tamm et al. [195] developed strontium doped lantha-
num vanadate anode material for SOFCs. The anode was composed
of 20 vol% La0.7Sr0.3VO3  δ, 2.1 vol% CeO2 and 0.3 vol% Pd infiltrated
SDC scaffold. The total polarization resistance of the cell with LSC
cathode was measured as 0.3 Ω cm2 at 600 °C in 3 wt% humidified
hydrogen. The resistance was reduced to 0.1 Ω cm2 at the same
temperature, after the surface of the porous SDC scaffold was
modified by hydrofluoric acid prior to the infiltration of the anode
catalyst. Oh et al. [196] compared the structural and catalytic
properties of La0.8Sr0.2CrO3 (LSCr) and La0.8Sr0.2Cr0.5Mn0.5O3
(LSCM) infiltrated anodes. The electronic conductivity of LSCr
impregnated porous YSZ scaffold was found to be 1 S cm  1 at
700 °C which was an order of magnitude higher than that of the
LSCM/YSZ anode. However, the performance of LSCr/YSZ anode

Table 7
A summary of mixed conductive phase infiltrated cathode studies.

Cathode backbone Infiltrate Loading Electrolyte Performance (Polarization resistance Rp and/or peak cell power Pm) Reference

Infiltrated case Base case Temperature

LSM Gd0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 5.8 mg cm  2 8YSZ Rp ¼0.21 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 11.76 Ω cm2 700 °C [156]
LSM Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 50 wt% SDC Rp ¼0.23 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 5.4 Ω cm2 700 °C [157]
LSM Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 42 wt% 8YSZ Pm ¼ 1.25 W cm  2 Pm ¼ 0.82 W cm  2 800 °C [158]
LSM Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 25 wt% 8YSZ Pm ¼ 0.981 W cm  2 Pm ¼ 0.816 W cm  2 800 °C [159]
36 wt% Pm ¼ 1.322 W cm  2
LSM Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 50 wt% SDC Rp ¼1.13 Ω cm2 – 600 °C [160]
Pm ¼ 0.138 W cm  2
LSM Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 50 wt% 8YSZ Rp ¼0.05 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 5 Ω cm2 800 °C [161]
LSM/8YSZ Gd0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 32 wt% 8YSZ Rp ¼0.15 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 0.8 Ω cm2 650 °C [163]
LSCF Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 10 mL of 0.25 M solution 8YSZ Rp ¼0.44 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 1.09 Ω cm2 650 °C [164]
Rp ¼0.074 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 0.15 Ω cm2 750 °C
GdBaCo2O5 þ δ Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 3.3 mg cm  2 SDC Rp ¼0.1 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 0.43 Ω cm2 600 °C [165]
GdBaCo2O5 þ δ Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 2 mg cm  2 YSZ Rp ¼0.19 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 0.50 Ω cm2 700 °C [166]
La0.7Ca0.3CrO3  δ Gd0.1Ce0.9O2  δ – LSGM Pm ¼ 0.638 W cm  2 – 900 °C [167]
Sm0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Cu0.2O3  δ Sm0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 3 mL of 0.40 M solution SDC Pm ¼ 0.659 W cm  2 Pm ¼ 0.496 W cm  2 700 °C [168]
LaNi0.6Fe0.4O3  δ Gd0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 21.1 wt% ScSZ Rp ¼3.405 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 0.702 Ω cm2 650 °C [169]
LSM/8YSZ Pr0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 2.26 mL of 1 M solution 8YSZ Rp ¼1.3 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 4.6 Ω cm2 700 °C [170]
Pt Gd0.2Ce0.8O2  δ 0.2 mg cm  2 8YSZ Rp ¼2.05 Ω cm2 Rp ¼ 0.78 Ω cm2 800 °C [171]
 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121
Table 8
A summary of infiltrated Ni-free anode studies.
Porous backbone Infiltrate Loading Temperature (°C)
La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3 La0.75Sr0.25Cr0.5Mn0.5O3 33 wt% 800
La0.75Sr0.25Cr0.5Mn0.5O3 Co 1.66 mg cm  2 850
Ce0.85Sm0.15O2 La0.7Sr0.3VO3–CeO2–Pd 22.4 vol% 600
8YSZ La0.8Sr0.2CrO3–CeO2–Pd 50.5 wt% 700
8YSZ Sr0.88Y0.08TiO3 23 wt% 850
8YSZ Cu–Ni–CeO2 40 wt% 800
8YSZ CeO2–Cu–Fe 30 wt% 800
NiFe–ZrO2 Cu 50 wt% 800
YSZ Cu 36–40 wt% 750
was relatively low compared to that of LSCM/YSZ. The different
performances were explained with the microstructural properties.
While the final structure of LSCr included large and poorly con-
nected particles, LSCM formed porous interconnected film with
high surface area resulting in a high number of TPBs.
Torabi and Etsell [197] offered yttrium doped SrTiO3 (YST:
Sr0.88Y0.08TiO3) infiltrated 8YSZ as an alternative anode material
for sulfur and carbon tolerant SOFCs. The amount of the infiltrated
YST was optimized to be 23 wt% according to the impedance
measurements of the symmetrical cells infiltrated with different
amount of YST. The final cell with infiltrated YST anode and LSM
cathode provided 95 mW cm  2 maximum power density at
900 °C under dry hydrogen. The cell was also operated under
methane fuel with and without 0.5% H2S. A dramatic performance
improvement was reported when 5000 ppm H2S was added to
humidified methane. The electrochemical performance of the cell
increased by a factor of about 35 as a result of the total polariza-
tion drop from 160 Ω cm2 to 4.7 Ω cm2. Mirfakhraei et al. [198]
investigated the effect of nickel infiltration on the anode perfor-
mance with and without H2S. The infiltration of 3 wt% nickel into
10 m thick porous GDC scaffold was shown to lower the polariza-
tion resistance up to 85%. In addition, the infiltrated anode showed
ca. 5 times higher tolerance towards sulfur poisoning compared to
that of the pure GDC anode. Hornes et al. [199] developed Cu–Ni–
CeO2 impregnated 8YSZ and, Kaur and Basu [200] proposed Cu–
Fe–CeO2 infiltrated 8YSZ as an anode for SOFCs to utilize directly
methane and butane, respectively, while Wang et al. [201] studied
the NiFe–ZrO2/Cu for direct methane fueled SOFCs. They all were
proven to exhibit a stable performance without appreciable
degradation during the short term life tests performed. On the
other hand, Buccheri and Hill [202] described a bi-layered anode
containing Ni/8YSZ functional and Cu/8YSZ conduction layer
where Cu was introduced via infiltration method. The cell with
around 40 wt% Cu impregnated anode showed 1.2 mV h  1 voltage
degradation over 117 h in dry methane fuel at 800 °C and
100 mA cm  2 operational current density.
LSCF perovskite oxides have been widely investigated as a
cathode material for intermediate temperature SOFCs. However, the
long term stability and the compatibility with the electrolyte
material are the main issues [203–207]. Therefore, some recent
studies on nanostructured cathode development have focused on
the modification of LSCM based cathode via infiltration. Among
them, Zhu et al. [208,209] and Liu et al. [210] fabricated thin film
LSM coated LSCM cathodes prepared via impregnation. The short
term life tests performed at 750 °C for 100 h revealed an 8% per-
formance degradation for blank LSCF whereas LSM modified cath-
ode showed almost a stable performance [208]. It was found that
LSCF cathode with an optimized LSM film coating leads to 31%
reduction in the cathode polarization resistance without a sig-
nificant degradation after 350 h operation under a constant
operational voltage of 0.7 V at 750 °C [209]. Similar short term
stability test results were also reported by Liu et al. [210]. It was also
1117
Fuel Peak power density (W cm  2) Reference
Humidified hydrogen 0.214 [193]
Dry hydrogen 0.196 [194]
Humidified hydrogen 0.139 [195]
Humidified hydrogen 0.4 [196]
Humidified methane with 0.5 % H2S 0.037 [197]
Dry methane  0.2 [199]
Butane  0.25 [200]
Methane-O2  0.9 [201]
Dry methane 0.145 [202]
shown that a 24% performance improvement is possible by LSM
thin film coating of LSCF surfaces via infiltration. Samson et al. [211]
have recently reported a stable performance for the cell with LSCo
infiltrated GDC cathode tested at 700 °C for 1500 h under a constant
current density of 500 mA cm  2. Beside these studies, SrFe0.75
Mo0.25O3  δ [212], BaO/Ni-GDC [213], Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 δ [214, 215],
Mn1.5Co1.5O4  δ [216], Y0.25Bi0.75O1.5 [217] and Co1.5Mn1.5O4 [218]
infiltrated cathodes have been recently investigated.
4. Conclusion
SOFC cell/stack designs alternative to well-known planar and
tubular SOFCs are reviewed in this paper under two main topics i.e.
geometrically modified and structurally modified designs. Improv-
ing the cell performance and durability by miniaturizing the cell
structure is the general approach employed in the fabrication of
novel geometrically modified SOFC designs. However, this may lead
to a difficult and high-cost fabrication due to complex micro-scale
shaped SOFC designs. The general features of modified SOFC
designs are discussed in Table 9. Among the geometrically modified
SOFC designs, integrated planar SOFCs based on multi array struc-
ture can provide weight and cost reduction when compared to
SOFCs with conventional interconnectors while honeycomb SOFC
design offers a high mechanical strength. Although they both have
relatively high performance, the former suffers from the sealing and
interconnector integrity problems and the latter has interconnec-
tion and electrical lead issues to be considered. The micro-tubular,
flat-tubular and cone-shaped SOFCs can be also included in the
same group of the geometrically modified SOFC designs. They have
all been demonstrated to have a high thermal shock resistance
together with a high performance. However, the problems with the
conventional tubular SOFCs are also valid and seem not to be
completely solved for these designs.
It is also possible to have a high performance SOFC by structural
modifications, including novel electrolyte designs and nano-
structured cells. Similar to geometrically modified ones, the fab-
rication of structurally modified SOFCs is not easy and requires
high cost and relatively long times. The current trend in the
electrolyte supported SOFCs is to fabricate electrolytes containing
thin and thick regions by novel electrolyte designs. As a result,
improved cell performances have been reported due to the
reduced electrolyte thickness and the increase in the number of
TPBs at the electrolyte/electrode interfaces. The fabricating of
nano-structured cells via impregnation/infiltration is also very
effective to obtain high performance SOFC electrodes due to again
increased number of TPBs compared to those in conventional ones
prepared by mechanical mixing. The improvement in the perfor-
mance is much more dramatic when the electronic conductor
electrode is infiltrated via a mixed or ionic conductor. However,
the long-term stability of impregnated cells needs to be addressed
1118 B. Timurkutluk et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 56 (2016) 1101–1121

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