Effect of Bi-Layer Interconnector Design on the Current Density of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

The concentration gradient of fuel and oxidant gas is great in the plane normal to the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) three-phase-boundary (TPB) layer, especially in the porous electrode. We present a novel interconnector design, termed bilayer interconnector, for SOFC. It can distribute the fuel and air gas in the plane normal to the SOFC TPB layer. In this paper, we develop a 3D model to study the current density of the SOFC with conventional and novel bi-layer interconnectors. The numerical results show that the novel SOFC design Rib1 can slightly enhance the mass transfer in the porous anode and current density. The novel SOFC design Rib2 can improve the current density significantly under low electrical conductivity of interconnector.