SOFC

>> Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using solid oxide electrolytes operate at high temperatures. 

• The advantage of SOFC is that it has high power density and good energy efficiency. In addition, unlike other fuel cells, SOFC has the advantage of high system reliability and being able to use fuels other than hydrogen due to its high operating temperature. However, SOFC has the disadvantage of being expensive due to its high operating temperature. 

• LT-SOFC (Low Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) is a solid oxide fuel cell that has a lower operating temperature than conventional commercial SOFC and uses thin film electrolytes and electrodes made of nanoparticles. The LT-SOFC has advantages of solving a sealing problem caused by a difference in thermal expansion coefficients and providing a wider selection of electrolyte material materials. However, LT-SOFC slows down the chemical reaction speed due to the low operating temperature, increasing the activation loss, which causes the performance of the fuel cell to decrease. 

• To solve this problem, LT-SOFC uses a sputtering process, one of the Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD). There are two types of LT-SOFC: Si substrate-based and Anodized Aluminium Oxide (AAO) substrate-based. Here, the AAO substrate-based LT-SOFC has the advantage of being able to manufacture a large area of fuel cells.