Future of nanotube structured cathodes for solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract

The research on fuel cell is in progress with the increasing demand of present day fuel. The performance of solid oxide fuel cell largely depends on cathode materials and microstructures. A lot of effort has been put but still a complete fuel cell with compatible components is not yet available.Still it is difficult to get the performance of fuel cell which could be obtainedtheoretically at a power density value of 1.01Wcm-2. The main hindrance to gain the expected results from a solid oxide fuel cell is due to the ohmic loss, polarization loss and thermal co-efficient missmatch. To remove these obstaclesnow more attention has been given on the nanostructures. More improvement on performance can be achieved when nano tube structured cathdoes are introduced into the solid oxide fuel cell. Some other structured materials are also available like nano belts, nano rods, nano wires etc. But in case of nano tubes, they show more thermal stability and mechanical strength. Furthermore, nano tubes show more catalytic activities for their high surface area and porosity. Nanotubes can be prepared using very easy and simple techniques. This nanotubes when used in solid oxide fuel cell ceramic cathodes, the operating temperature of SOFC can be minimized to an intermediate or low temperature level. In this review, more focus will be given to the nano tube structured cathodes and the effect of it on the various properties like catalytic performance, porosity, surface area, thermal coefficient etc.