ICREA Professor Albert Tarancón Rubio

Catalonia Institute for Energy Research - IREC, Spain                                                                                                                                                                                             

3D printing of advanced ceramics for energy applications: from the lab to the market

Additive manufacturing is opening new opportunities for advanced ceramics by enabling complex geometries, tailored architectures and new functionalities that cannot be readily achieved through conventional processing. These capabilities are particularly relevant for solid-state energy technologies, in which performance, durability and cost are strongly influenced by component geometry, active area, transport distances and thermo-mechanical behaviour.

This contribution will present our progress in applying ceramic 3D printing to solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells and solid-state batteries. In SOFC/SOEC technology, stereolithography-based manufacturing enables the fabrication of structured electrolyte-supported cells and compact stack architectures with increased active area and improved volumetric and gravimetric performance. The same design freedom can be exploited in solid-state batteries to engineer three-dimensional electrode–electrolyte architectures, shorten ionic transport paths and increase interfacial area while maintaining mechanical integrity. Across both applications, the transition from individual materials and components to functional devices requires an integrated approach encompassing printable feedstock formulation, geometry optimisation, thermal processing, functionalisation, assembly and electrochemical validation.

Particular attention will be devoted to the translation of these concepts beyond laboratory demonstrations. This includes scaling production through a dedicated pilot line, establishing reproducible manufacturing and quality-control procedures, and assessing the technical and economic constraints associated with industrialisation. Finally, the creation of OXHYD, a spin-off of IREC and ICREA focused on 3D-printed solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysers, illustrates how advanced ceramic manufacturing can progress from materials research to pilot-scale production and ultimately to market-oriented energy solutions.