Development of microtubular solid oxide electrolyzer

In this thesis, the optimization of steam and oxygen electrodes in micro-tubular solid oxide electrolysis (MTSOE) cells are performed. Additionally, steam electrode materials are gathered through the recovery of manufacturing wastes generated during the production of anode supports for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The recovered powders are subsequently utilized to fabricate SOFC anode support microtubes using tape casting coupled with isostatic pressing and extrusion techniques. Microtubular SOFCs are fabricated by applying other cell layers onto these supports through dip-coating. Comparative analyses of electrochemical performance and microstructural investigations are conducted on the supports and cells fabricated from both recovered powders and commercial powders. The results show that anode supported fabricated from recovered powders achieved electrochemical performance comparable to those made from commercial powders, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed recovery strategy. In MTSOE studies, steam electrode support layers are fabricated through the extrusion method using powders recovered. Other cell layers are coated onto these supports using the dip-coating technique to obtain MTSOE cells. The effects of composition, sintering temperature, and pore former content on the electrode active layers are examined through testing and characterization studies, and these parameters were optimized for a high performance.