Herein disclosed is a method of treating a component of a fuel cell, which includes the step of exposing the component of the fuel cell to a source of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The component comprises a first material. The EMR has a wavelength ranging from 10 to 1500 nm and the EMR has a minimum energy density of 0.1 Joule/cm2. Preferably, the treatment process has one or more of the following effects: heating, drying, curing, sintering, annealing, sealing, alloying, evaporating, restructuring, foaming. In an embodiment, the substrate is a component in a fuel cell. Such component comprises an anode, a cathode, an electrolyte, a catalyst, a barrier layer, a interconnect, a reformer, or reformer catalyst. In an embodiment, the substrate is a layer in a fuel cell or a portion of a layer in a fuel cell or a combination of layers in a fuel cell or a combination of partial layers in a fuel cell.

An electrochemical cell comprises a first electrode, a second electrode, and a proton-conducting membrane between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode comprises Pr(Co.sub.1-x-y-z, Ni.sub.x, Mn.sub.y, Fe.sub.z)O.sub.3-δ, wherein 0≤x≤0.9, 0≤y≤0.9, 0≤z≤0.9, and δ is an oxygen deficit. The second electrode comprises a cermet material including at least one metal and at least one perovskite. Related structures, apparatuses, systems, and methods are also described.

A solid oxide fuel cell includes a support of which a main component is a metal, a mixed layer that is provided on the support and includes a metallic material and a ceramics material, an intermediate layer that is provided on the mixed layer and includes an electron conductive ceramics material, and an anode that is provided on the intermediate layer and includes an oxygen ion conductive ceramics material and Ni. A ratio of a metal component in the intermediate layer is smaller than a ratio of the metallic material in the mixed layer.

An electrochemical module (EM) transfers a fluid across a membrane thereof using oxygen as a carrier gas. The EM has an anion exchange membrane (AEM) disposed between a first and second electrodes, each of which includes a catalyst. At an inlet side, the catalyst facilitates reaction of the fluid with carrier gas, such that an anion is formed. The anion is transported across the AEM in the presence of an electric field applied to the electrodes. At an outlet side, the catalyst facilitates dissociation of the anion back to the fluid and carrier gas. In some embodiments, the fluid comprises carbon dioxide, and the transporting by the EM is part of a heating/cooling cycle or a power generation cycle, or is used to capture carbon dioxide for storage or regeneration of stale air. In some embodiments, the fluid comprises water vapor, and the transporting by the EM dehumidifies air.

An electrochemical cell comprising an anode, an electrolyte adjacent to the anode, a cathode adjacent to the electrolyte, and an interconnector adjacent to the cathode. One or more of the anode, the cathode, and the interconnector comprises a ternary oxide material comprising the chemical formula of M.sup.1.sub.xM.sup.2.sub.yO.sub.z, where M.sup.1 is an alkali metal element or an alkaline earth metal element, M.sup.2 is a platinum group metal, each of x and y is independently an integer less than or equal to 2, and z is independently an integer less than or equal to 4. A system comprising one or more electrochemical cells and methods of forming the ternary oxide material are also disclosed.

Techniques for fabricating a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) including sintering an electrolyte, printing a fuel-side electrode disposed on a fuel side of the electrolyte, printing an air-side electrode disposed on an air side of the electrolyte, first sintering a combination of the electrolyte, fuel-side electrode, and air-side electrode, printing a barrier layer an air side of the electrolyte, printing a functional layer on the barrier layer, printing a collector layer on the functional layer, and second sintering a combination of the electrolyte, fuel-side electrode, air-side electrode, barrier layer, functional layer, and collector layer.

A perovskite-type composite oxide powder is a perovskite-type composite oxide powder represented by a general formula ABO.sub.3-δ (where δ represents an amount of deficiency of oxygen and 0≤δ<1), an element contained in an A site is La, elements contained in a B site are Co and Ni and a crystallite size determined by a Williamson-Hall method is equal to or greater than 20 nm and equal to or less than 100 nm. In this way, when the perovskite-type composite oxide powder is used as an air electrode material for a fuel cell, an air electrode in which the resistance thereof is low and the conductivity thereof is high can be obtained.

The present application provides systems, apparatuses, and methods for simultaneous processing of tow waster gases, namely H.sub.2S and CO.sub.2. In an exemplary process of this disclosure H.sub.2S is supplied to anode side of an electrochemical cell, while CO.sub.2 is supplied to the cathode side. As a result, valuable commercial products are produced. In particular, SO.sub.2 is harvested from the anode side, while synthesis gas, CO+H.sub.2) is harvested from the cathode side. An electric current is also produced, which can be supplied to a local utility grid.

A layered cathode structure for a molten carbonate fuel cell is provided, along with methods of forming a layered cathode and operating a fuel cell including a layered cathode. The layered cathode can include at least a first cathode layer and a second cathode layer. The first cathode layer can correspond to a layer that is adjacent to the molten carbonate electrolyte during operation, while the second cathode layer can correspond to a layer that is adjacent to the cathode collector of the fuel cell. The first cathode layer can be formed by sintering a layer that includes a conventional precursor material for forming a cathode, such as nickel particles. The second cathode layer can be formed by sintering a layer that includes a mixture of particles of a conventional precursor material and 1.0 vol % to 30 vol % of particles of a lithium pore-forming compound. The resulting layered cathode structure can have an increased pore size adjacent to the cathode collector to facilitate diffusion of CO.sub.2 into the electrolyte interface, while also having a smaller pore size adjacent to the electrolyte to allow for improved electrical contact and/or reduced polarization at the interface between the electrolyte and the cathode.

Herein discussed is an electrode comprising a copper or copper oxide phase and a ceramic phase, wherein the copper or copper oxide phase and the ceramic phase are sintered and are inter-dispersed with one another. Further discussed herein is a method of making a copper-containing electrode comprising: (a) forming a dispersion comprising ceramic particles and copper or copper oxide particles; (b) depositing the dispersion onto a substrate to form a slice; and (c) sintering the slice using electromagnetic radiation.