燃料电池的挑战和新的机遇

Fuel Cells Challenges and New Opportunities

固体氧化物燃料电池(solid oxide fuel cells,SOFCs)是复杂的电化学能源转换设备,相比于传统的火力发电系统,具有高转换效率、低排放、零噪音的优势。纵观100多年的SOFCs发展史,一系列的挑战仍阻碍着其商业化进程,如高成本和低稳定性,上述挑战主要归咎于离子电导率和催化活性所要求的高温运行条件。传统的阴极、电解质和阳极三部件结构SOFCs主要从降低电解质厚度和提高电极催化活性入手,至今,所取得的关键技术发展和科学突破仍不够。因此,我们不得不反思SOFCs 100年来发展方向和研究焦点。2010年,单部件无电解质燃料电池在瑞典皇家工学院的发明和研制成功(Adv. Funct. Mater. 21 (2011) 2465),意味着燃料电池的一个革命和商业化瓶颈的突破,该研究成果被Nature Nanotechnology选为2011年研究亮点,以“FUEL CELL: Three in one”编辑文章报道。

Fuel cells, or specifically on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are complex electrochemical energy conversion devices, compared to conventional thermal power system with the advantages of high conversion efficiency, low emissions and zero noise. Throughout the 100 years of history of SOFCs development, a number of challenges still hamper their commercialization, such as high cost and low durability;these challenges are mainly attributed to the high temperature operating condition required by ionic conductivity and catalytic activity. Traditional SOFC with structure of cathode, electrolyte and anode three parts today focuses mainly on reducing the electrolyte thickness and enhancing electrode catalytic activity, the development of key technologies and scientific breakthroughs are still not enough. Therefore, we have to reflect that of SOFCs 100 years, the direction and focus of research. 2010, single-component electrolyte-free fuel cell was invented in the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (Adv. Funct Mater. (2011) 2465), it means that the bottleneck of a revolution and commercialization of fuel cell breakthrough, the results were selected as a 2011 research highlights by Nature Nanotechnology titled as: “The FUEL CELL: Three in one”.