Materials and Applications of 3D Print for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, also called additive manufacturing technology, is a process of manufacturing three-dimensional objects through a layer-by-layer printing method, which involves machinery, computer, numerical control, materials, and other related technologies. It has been widely used in the areas of aerospace, biomedical, electronic, energy, and chemical industries. This chapter mainly introduces several common 3D-printing technologies, focusing on the preparation of cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, and cell stacks of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) by the 3D-printing technology. It is considered to improve the electrochemical performance of a SOFC by tailoring the microstructure, specific surface area, or composition distribution of SOFCs. It is expected to improve the internal transport behavior of cell stacks by the structural design of monolithic stack support. The preparation process of the SOFC stack can be simplified and optimized, or even be integrated into one step, using a 3D-printing method, avoiding the material mismatch caused by a large number of joints and assemblies, and improving the stability and service life of cell stack. 3D printing also shows unique advantages in the design and preparation of SOFC stack auxiliary systems and has great potential in the integrated preparation of stack components and stacks. Moreover, the technical challenges of the 3D-printing technologies in the SOFC field are pointed out. And some suggestions are put forward for the problems and deficiencies of SOFCs prepared by the 3D-printing method. The research and developments of the high-resolution ceramic 3D-printing technologies, the innovations and developments of fuel cell slurry, and the manufacturing of hybrid and multi-material 3D printers may become important directions to solve the existing problems.