Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are energy conversion devices, which have various advantages, such as wide fuel applicability, high energy conversion efficiency and easy utilization of waste heat. However, SOFCs still have problems for commercialization, such as low stability and short working life. Due to the interaction of flow field, temperature field and electric field, the non-uniform flow field can easily lead to local temperature gradient and thermal stress in single cells, which causes irreversible damage to the SOFCs stack. Optimizing the uniformity of the flow field is a key to improve the stability and life of SOFCs. This paper summarizes the flow field design and optimization of planar SOFCs stacks.

Solid oxide direct ammonia fuel cell (SO-DAFC) can be used to convert ammonia into electricity through direct electrochemical oxidation. The anode materials of SO-DAFC not only need to have high ionic and electronic conductivity, but also need to have high catalytic activity for ammonia decomposition. The nitriding effect of ammonia on most anode materials would reduce the electrochemical performance of the anode materials, resulting in low catalytic activity of ammonia decomposition and poor stability, which restricts the commercialization process of SO-DAFC. The research progress of solid oxide direct ammonia fuel cell anode materials is summarized from the aspects of electrochemical oxidation of ammonia gas on anode and different types of anode materials and the optimization direction of anode materials is prospected.