S. Korean scientists develop improved ceramic fuel cell

SEOUL. KAZINFORM A group of South Korean scientists has developed a protonic ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) that greatly improves both performance and scalability, helping to move forward the commercialization of next-generation eco-friendly power generation systems, researchers here said Tuesday.

The joint teams, led by Lee Jong-ho of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and Shin Dong-wook of Hanyang University, claimed they satisfied high performance and cost efficiency aspects of next generation fuel cells, Yonhap reports.

Over past decades, PCFCs have been praised as a next-generation technology. However, PCFCs needed to overcome limitations on performance due to the refractory nature of proton-conducting ceramic electrolytes and low chemical stability.

The researchers said they have achieved the best value reported for PCFCs through an anode-assisted facile densification of a proton-conducting electrolyte on a structurally and compositionally uniform anode support.

"Since all of the utilized fabrication processes were cost-effective, consistent and readily scalable, the advances fulfill the requirements of high performance, scalability and cost-efficiency for achieving commercial feasibility of PCFCs," the researchers said in their report.

Their findings were published in the latest edition of the journal Nature Energy.