Manufacturing of fuel cells takes a number of steps.

Step 1: Support for mechanical strength

The support gives the fuel cell sufficient mechanical strength.

The ceramic materials are milled to a fine powder, which is mixed with a series of additives and solvents.

This slurry is fed to a tapecaster, which is a conveyer. Over the conveyer is a knife and a kiln.

The slurry is spread on the conveyer. The knife is set at a certain height, determining the thickness of the layer. The kiln dries the slurry, which then becomes a tape.

The manufactured tape is then dried and quality assessed.



Figure 1: Tapecasting 
The slurry is passed under a knife at a certain height and solvents are dried out while the tape is placed on a moving belt.

Step 2: The active layers

The next step is to make the electrochemical active anode and electrolyte layers.

These layers are sprayed onto the tape using a spray robot, which ensures the required uniformity of the thickness and microstructure in the finished layer.



Figure 2: Spray robot
Spray of the electrochemical active layers - the anode, the electrolyte and the cathode.

Step 3: Cutting and sintering the fuel cells

After the spray process, the tape is cut into the required shape and size and sintered.

The cells are sintered at very high temperatures in specially constructed ovens – kilns. During sintering, the cells will shrink as the ceramics particles stick together.

After the sintering, each cell is checked again, and only high quality cells move on to the next step – adding the cathode and contact layers. This is done by a spray or printing process.



Figure 3: Sintering
SOFC fuel cells are sintered in a kiln.