Recent advances in solid oxide cell technology for electrolysis

Abstract

In a world powered by intermittent renewable energy, electrolyzers will play a central role in converting electrical energy into chemical energy, thereby decoupling the production of transport fuels and chemicals from today’s fossil resources and decreasing the reliance on bioenergy. Solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) offer two major advantages over alternative electrolysis technologies. First, their high operating temperatures result in favorable thermodynamics and reaction kinetics, enabling unrivaled conversion efficiencies. Second, SOECs can be thermally integrated with downstream chemical syntheses, such as the production of methanol, dimethyl ether, synthetic fuels, or ammonia. SOEC technology has witnessed tremendous improvements during the past 10 to 15 years and is approaching maturity, driven by advances at the cell, stack, and system levels.

Performance Benchmark of Planar Solid Oxide Cells Based on Material Development and Designs

“…Most applications aim at operation close to the thermo‐neutral point, resulting in a cell voltage around 1.3 V. At this operating point, the net reaction heat and Joule heating of the cell level out, minimizing the required external heating or cooling. [ 25 ]…”

“…There are various excellent reviews and books available in the literature covering certain cell types, cell components, materials, manufacturing or mode of operation. [ 16,17,21–41 ] These articles provide detailed insights into reaction mechanisms, nanoscale material properties, degradation phenomena, and economics of operation to name just a few. The aim of this article is to present an overview of investigated material combinations and the obtained range of performance of planar SOCs, facilitating the assessment of the general potential of the cell types also for nonexperts.…”

Power-to-X in Denmark: An Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

“…As a consequence of the high investment cost of electrolysers and the higher price of electricity compared to other energy carriers such as gas, P2X currently lacks cost efficiency compared to other hydrogen production processes (Wa) [38][39][40]. Furthermore, production capacities of electrolysis cells and stacks are not sufficient at present in Denmark to allow upscaling (Wb) [41,42]. In addition, P2X is a power-intensive technology, which leads to low energy efficiency with currently available technologies (Wc) [43].…”

“…In addition, P2X is a power-intensive technology, which leads to low energy efficiency with currently available technologies (Wc) [43]. As another disadvantage, even if some electrolysis technologies such as alkaline have a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL), lifetime of electrolysis units might be relatively short and, when it comes to linking to electrofuel production, most of the technologies have not been demonstrated on larger scale and can be defined as immature (Wd) [41,42,44].…”

Study of Long-Term Stability of Ni-Zr0.92Y0.08O2-δ|Zr0.92Y0.08O2-δ|Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-δ |Pr0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ at SOFC and SOEC Mode

“…One promising technology that makes possible the conversion of fuel to electricity and excess electricity to fuel is the reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC). If RSOC works as a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), then it converts chemical energy to electricity, but if it works as a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC), then it could be used for electrolysis of water as well as CO 2 [1], or for co-electrolysis of water and CO 2 for production of valuable synthesis gas (H 2 + CO) [2,3].…”