Solid Oxide Cells Development in China

Both Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) develop very quickly in the world recently. This work details the growth and evolution of SOFC technology from fundamental science to engineering in China. Supported by the Chinese National 973 Program of MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology of China) from 2011 to 2016, fundamental research was carried out to clear the scientific issues in SOFC area, including the construction of the cell structure and its electrochemical behavior, the coupled mechanisms of multi-physics and multi-scale in SOFC, as well as the energy management and analysis of overall system. Currently, the degradation mechanism of SOFC and durability enhancement, supported by National Key R&D Program of China from 2019 to 2023, is engaging in China. Meanwhile, the SOFC industry chain from powder to power has been constructed to solve the engineering issues, including materials preparation, cell manufacture, stack assembly and system integration. The first SOFC production line with the scale of 200,000 cells per year has been put into service in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province since August, 2019. Based on the scale-up of the cells and stacks, a coal-based fuel cell integrated demonstration system has been designed and built in Shanxi Province. Another highlighted national project in China is the Coal Gasification Power System with Near Zero CO2 Emission, which is also supported by National Key R&D Program of China from 2017 to 2021. All these works will lay a foundation for practical application of SOFC technology in China, providing contributions to the future clean and high efficiency power plants using coal and other fuels. Meanwhile, SOEC related research has also lasted for years in China, which is mainly supported by local governments. From 2019, a SOEC demonstration project has been implemented by Tsinghua Team together with CHN ENERGY Investment Group Co. LTD, supported by Beijing Science and Technology Commission.