With a high hope to become the next-generation energy sources, due to their high energy conversion efficiency, fuel cells have been developed through use of different materials, which among them, SOFCs have scored the highest energy conversion efficiency, consisting of ceramic and are operated at high temperatures from 700 to 1000 degrees Celsius, but so far their application has been limited to large power generation systems. However, new applications of SOFC are being developed which includes distributed power sources for residential applications, power supplies for mobile electronic devices as well as auxiliary power units for vehicles.
Key factors in development of these new applications are; a micro-SOFC modularization technology, allowing quick start, and a multi-fuel technology, allowing low-temperature operation with hydrocarbon fuels. Based on this, AIST and Colorado School of Mines in US have jointly developed a micro solid oxide fuel cell (micro-SOFC) with a catalyst layer capable of using various hydrocarbon fuels through direct reforming, which allows power generation through direct reforming of methane fuel at temperature lower than 450 degrees Celsius ,world’s first.
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