A Novel Metal Foam-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell With High Specific Power

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have emerged as a promising energy conversion technology for transportation applications, including aerospace, maritime, and new energy vehicles, owing to high energy conversion efficiency, high energy density, reliability, fuel flexibility, and environmental friendliness. However, the low specific power of SOFCs hinders their commercialization for mobile power applications. To develop lightweight SOFCs, this study presents a novel SOFC structure utilizing a highly porous, large-pore metal foam as the support. By employing commercially available functional layer materials and established fabrication processes, the proposed SOFC achieves a peak power density of 1.01 W cm^{- 2} at 650°C, with a specific power of 6.56 kW kg^-1, representing a several-fold improvement over state-of-the-art design. Additionally, its impact resistance is improved by more than tenfold compared to conventional anode-supported SOFCs. This breakthrough is attributed to the metal foam support, which retains a high porosity of 90% after sintering, as revealed by 3D computed tomography. The enhanced effective diffusion coefficient (0.75) significantly reduces concentration polarization. Moreover, the metal foam support reduces the areal mass of the SOFC to 0.15 g cm^{- 2}, synergistically improving the specific power and better meeting the demands of mobile power systems for high specific power and impact resistance.