Dear Colleagues,

Fuel cells offer tremendous potential for improving energy efficiency and reducing CO₂/NO_x emissions, with potential applications ranging from transport to stationary power generation. In terms of the latter application, the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) (operating temperature 500–1000 °C) has attracted widespread interest. Traditionally, oxide ion conducting electrolytes have been favoured for such SOFCs, although proton conducting electrolytes have also been investigated for operation in the lower temperature (400–600 °C) regime. The high temperature operation delivers both advantages and challenges. By operating at high temperatures, catalytic activity of the electrodes is improved, which allows both the use of hydrocarbon (as well as hydrogen) fuels and the elimination of the need for precious metal catalysts. However, this high temperature operation does limit the ability for rapid start-up, and causes challenges with cell sealing and lifetime. As a result, there is large amount of research into developing new materials for use in these systems. Among the key challenges include 1) developing new electrolytes with improved oxide ion/proton conductivity and stability; 2) developing new cathode materials to allow lower temperature operation (the catalytic activity of the cathode for the oxygen reduction reaction is a key limitation especially at lower temperatures); and 3) developing new anode materials/approaches to mitigate sulfur poisoning.

Some recent advances in these areas include the development of new layered perovskite cathodes, and the production of anode cermets through exsolution approaches.

In addition to the large interest in solid oxide fuel cells, there is also growing interest in devices that reverse the fuel cell process, namely solid oxide electrolyser cells. Such systems are attracting particular interest for the generation of hydrogen utilising renewable energy sources. An ultimate goal is to develop materials and resulting cells that are truly reversible in order to allow either fuel cell or electrolyser operation, dependant on need. In the electrolyser area there is also considerable interest in co-electrolysis (e.g., CO₂ and steam to Syn Gas and O₂), which is an important electrochemical challenge for new materials research.

This Special Issue of the journal Applied Sciences “New Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells/Electrolysers” aims to cover recent advances in the development of new materials (anodes, cathodes, electrolytes, interconnects) for use in solid oxide fuel cells/electrolysers (both systems based on oxide ion conducting or proton conducting electrolytes).

Prof. Dr. Peter Raymond Slater
Guest Editor

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• Solid oxide fuel cell
• Solid oxide electrolyser
• Anodes
• Cathodes
• Interconnects
• Oxygen reduction reaction
• Oxygen evolution reaction
• Proton conducting electrolyte
• Oxide ion conducting electrolyte
• Exsolution
• Co-electrolysis