Applications and recent advances of rare earth in solid oxide fuel cells

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are an all-solid energy conversion device from the chemical energy of fuels to electric energy at intermediate and high temperatures. Up to now, massive efforts have been made in developing different components of solid oxide fuel cells, including electrolyte, anode, cathode and interconnect materials. Rare earth elements play an indispensable role in different components of SOFCs which have been extensively studied in the recent decades. In this review, we concentrate upon the rare earth application and recent advances in SOFCs and related materials. Materials structure involves perovskites, Ruddlesden-Popper, fluorite, spinel, pyrochlore, apatite and so on. Moreover, the effects of rare earth based oxides as matrix or dopants in different components are also discussed. Structures and properties of the materials are related to the element type, valence, coordination and ion radius. This article will provide a comprehensive research direction towards SOFCs components for their composition, structural design and mechanisms research.