Research Progress in Preparation Technique of Tubular Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell

Tubular solid oxide fuel cell (T-SOFC) is an all-solid-state, green and high-efficiency electrochemical device for direct convert of chemical energy in fuel into electrical energy, with the advantages of fast start/stop speed, easy sealing, good thermal cycle stability, high mechanical strength and large active area. It is considered to be the closest to a practical SOFC configuration in the future. As compared with oxygen-ion conductive SOFC, protonic ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) shows excellent electrochemical performance at low and medium temperatures, due to the small radius of protons and low activation energy required for proton migration. Also, the tubular structure solves the problem of low strength of the PCFC, which is more promising for practical applications. The working principle, key materials and preparation process of tubular PCFC are summarized, while the fabrication progress and difficulties, such as slip casting, extrusion, dip coating, phase inversion, tape casting, and isostatic pressure and finally the future development and challenges of tubular PCFC, are discussed and prospected.