The constrained densification of ceramic interlayers in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is strongly influenced by the interplay between constraint effects and diffusion kinetics. While elevated sintering temperatures are commonly employed to overcome stress-retarded densification, they simultaneously accelerate interfacial interdiffusion and reaction-layer formation, creating a long-standing trade-off between microstructural integrity and chemical stability. Here, we demonstrate a chemo-mechanical regulation strategy that effectively mitigates the conflict between these competing processes through concurrent enhancement of sintering kinetics and regulation of green-state packing homogeneity. By combining Co₃O₄-assisted sintering activation with cold isostatic pressing (CIP), ultrathin Gd-doped ceria (GDC) interlayers achieve an apparent relative density of 98.5% after constrained sintering, enabling densification at 1200 °C, below the temperatures commonly reported for constrained GDC films processed without sintering activation. The resulting dense and continuous interlayer limits Ce–Zr interdiffusion during fabrication and mitigates Sr-related interfacial reactions and reaction-layer formation during operation. Consequently, the optimized anode-supported SOFC delivers a peak power density of 1.36 W·cm⁻² at 800 °C and exhibits a normalized degradation rate of 0.48% per 1000 h, calculated from the stabilized 200–460 h operation period at 750 °C. Accelerated thermal aging at 850 °C for 600 h further supports the stability of the engineered heterointerface. The chemo-mechanical strategy was successfully extended to 10 cm × 10 cm cells, supporting their compatibility with scalable wet-processing routes. This work provides a chemo-mechanical perspective for mitigating the interplay between constrained densification and interfacial reactivity in multilayer ceramic systems.

The electronic control unit (ECU) in electrical powered hybrid and fuel cell vehicles is exceedingly complex. Rapid prototyping control is used to reduce development time and eliminate errors during software development. This paper describes a high-efficiency development method and a flexible tool chain suitable for various applications in automotive engineering. The control algorithm can be deployed directly from a Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow environment into the ECU hardware together with an OSEK real-time operating system (RTOS). The system has been successfully used to develop a 20-kW fuel cell system ECU based on a Motorola PowerPC 555 (MPC555) microcontroller. The total software development time is greatly reduced and the code quality and reliability are greatly enhanced.