The recent dramatic petroleum demand and concern on its impact on air quality and global climate has resulted in a large international research and development effort on fuel cell and power generation source. Several efforts have been made to push the fuel cells commercialization towards a more efficient, easily and cost effective production cycle. ISTEC is in the forefront of ceramic processing for SOFCs being among the very few in Italy able to produce large area (10x10cm) supporting cathodes and anodes operating both at high and intermediate temperature. The focus on the ceramic processing will allow the production in the near future of solid oxide fuel cells that can be directly used in field tests either with conventional or non conventional fuels (e.g bioethanol) either in conjunction with other renewable energy sources. All the components for the first, second and the most recent third generation SOFCs are produced using a semi-industrial tape caster and an industrial screen-stencil printer equipped with the most up-to-date CCD vision system for high precision alignment and a porous table for uniform depositions onto green substrates.
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