Nanocomposites for advanced 300-600ºC fuel cell technology (NANOCOFC) is on-going research network supported by EC FP6 NMP program (http://www.ket.kth.se/nanocofc/). The NANOCOFC approach by applying nanotechnology to the fuel cell (FC) has tremendous potential in creation of ultra low cost and superior performance FC systems.

The method uses nano-particles to construct new functional materials possessing the desired interfacial function, so called nanocomposites, and superionic conductors have succeed in low temperature (300-600ºC) SOFCs. These have been benefited by the interfaces and interactions in the interfacial regions between two constituent phases that may cause interfacial ionic conduction highways, i.e. superionic conduction. The material architecture of the two-phase composite displays a new scientific principle in material design and development where conductivity enhancement or superionic conduction is caused by the interfacial mechanism. This is significantly different from the single-phase materials, such as YSZ and SDC etc., where high conductivity is realized by aliovalent doping to create oxygen vacancies inside the structure, so called bulk mechanism, which requires a high temperature to activate ionic mobility.

NANOCOFC is a new scientific area exploring many new opportunities for future fuel cell R&D.