Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: A Review of Recent Developments and Problems

The design of metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells (MS-SOFCs) has again aroused interest in recent years due to their low cost of materials, strength, and resistance to thermal cycling, as well as the advantages of manufacturability. MS-SOFCs are promising electrochemical devices for hydrogen energy. Compared to SOFCs, where ceramic electrodes or electrolytes are used as a carrier base, they are of great interest due to their fast start-up capability, greater reliability, mechanical stability, and resistance to the thermal cycle. MS-SOFCs have many advantages over conventional ceramic-based SOFCs, with the selection of metal-based electrode materials (anode, cathode) and their degradation processes being some of the biggest challenges facing researchers. Therefore, this review reports on the state of the latest research on MS-SOFCs with various structures, discusses the corresponding electrode materials and their existing problems, and puts forward topical issues that need to be addressed in MS-SOFCs.