Overall
- Language
- English
- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received June 6, 2025
Revised September 30, 2025
Accepted November 6, 2025
Available online February 25, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Most Cited
Advancement in Electrolyte Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00601-2
Abstract
Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrolytes has advanced from conventional oxide-ion conductors such as YSZ to sophisticated
proton-conducting and co-ionic systems. This review synthesises progress across oxide-, proton- and dual-ion-conducting
families within a harmonised 500–800 °C window, using mainly a single cell-level reporting schema. By centring
the comparison at the cell level, we assemble state-of-the-art demonstrations and map them onto a durability framework
that makes performance limits and degradation risks explicit. Tables 7 and 8 convert materials insights into stack-relevant
guidance, enabling like-for-like benchmarking that is reproducible and decision-oriented. Three messages emerge where
oxide-ion systems are the most mature and stack-ready, yet ≤ 650 °C operation is constrained by residual ohmic losses
and cathode surface-exchange kinetics, even with sub-micrometre membranes. Protonic cells deliver high conductivity and
competitive power at 500–650 °C but require chemical robustness against CO2/H2O to stabilise Ba-containing perovskites.
Dual-ion electrolytes spanning engineered semiconductor-ionic heterostructures and composite co-ionic designs achieve
attractive outputs near 500–550 °C, although long-term stability is constrained by secondary-phase volatility, coarsening
and interfacial drift. Architecture and processing are decisive levers: dense ultrathin electrolytes with targeted interlayers,
bilayer/multilayer stacks, space-charge/strain-engineered heterostructures and thin-film routes complement scalable
tape-casting, screen printing, extrusion and micro-tubular formats. We prioritise chemically robust protonics; stabilised
co-ionic systems with engineered interfaces; cathode-electrolyte pairings qualified under realistic fuels and humidities; and
standardised reporting that ties electrochemical diagnostics and post-mortem analysis to fade metrics. This framework provides
decision-oriented evidence to guide device design, operating policy and scale-up from record single cells to stacks.
