
Department of Physics
University of Kerala
Established in 1970
Re acreditted by NAAC with A++ grade
Department of Physics
University of Kerala
Kariavattom Campus
Thiruvananthapuram
Rare Earth Based Oxide ion conducting electrolytes for Environmental friendly Solid Oxide Fuel cells applications
The question of the present day is the sky rocketing price of all petroleum products and the increased rate of pollution due to dependence on conventional energy sources. The answers of an efficient alternative have been a topic of debate for the last decade. Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Biomass etc were found to be a good candidate for the replacement of the conventional energy sources. But still the question remains whether they are sufficient or effective. It is still unknown which Fuel cell will dominate in near future. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells is an alternative source of energy which is efficient, environmental friendly and clean. But it is still in an underdeveloped state since there is many problems affecting them in different stages of development in electrodes, electrolytes, interconnects etc. In the case of electrolytes, the major problems are, high operating temperature of the electrolytes, reducing nature at extreme conditions such as high temperature and oxygen atmosphere, high electrolyte resistivity, electrode polarization, formation of low conducting phase in electrolyte/electrode interface, brittle nature of ceramic compounds, inhomogeneous nature of electrolyte, poor stability, above all the cost of production etc. In the light of the above discussed limitations, the research work is interesting since it makes an attempt to find a suitable oxide ion conducting electrolyte material, it can be extended to a larger scale project, once physical properties of these materials completely understood.
