DTU researchers rethink fuel cells with 3D printing
Unlocking new potential for P2X and power generation in aerospace and beyond
According to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), researchers may have solved a key challenge in sustainable energy: creating fuel cells light and powerful enough for aerospace. In a collaboration between DTU Energy and DTU Construct, the team radically redesigned solid oxide cells (SOCs) using 3D printing and gyroid geometry. This mathematically optimized structure, found in butterfly wings and heat exchangers, is lightweight, robust, and has a large surface area. For the first time, it has been applied to electrochemical devices like SOCs.
Conventional fuel cells are heavy, with more than 75% of their weight coming from metal sealing and connectivity parts. This has limited their use in mobile applications such as aerospace. Batteries are no better: swapping a jet’s 70 tons of fuel for lithium-ion batteries would increase its weight to 3,500 tons – making takeoff impossible.
In Nature Energy, DTU scientists report a new fully ceramic fuel cell built with 3D printing. Known as the Monolithic Gyroidal Solid Oxide Cell (‘The Monolith’), it uses a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) design to maximize surface while minimizing weight. The cell delivers more than one watt per gram, a first in the field.
“Currently, using electricity-based energy conversion, such as batteries and fuel cells, doesn’t make sense for aerospace applications. But our new fuel cell design changes that,” said senior researcher Venkata Karthik Nadimpalli. “It’s the first to demonstrate the Watts to gram ratio – or specific power – needed for aerospace, while using a sustainable, green technology.”
Fuel cells already power hydrogen cars, ships, data centers, and hospitals, and can also store renewable energy via electrolysis. The new DTU design adds several advantages: efficient gas flow, improved heat distribution, enhanced stability, and hydrogen production nearly ten times faster than conventional systems.
“We also tested the system in extreme conditions, including temperature swings of 100°C, and repeatedly switched between fuel cell and electrolysis modes. The fuel cells held up impressively, showing no signs of structural failure or layers separating,” said Professor Vincenzo Esposito.
Such resilience could benefit missions like NASA’s MOXIE project, which produces oxygen from Mars’ CO₂-rich atmosphere. Current MOXIE stacks weigh more than six tons; the DTU design could cut that to 800 kg.
Manufacturing is also streamlined. “While conventional SOC stacks require dozens of manufacturing steps and rely on multiple materials that degrade over time, our monolithic ceramic design is produced in just five steps, where we eliminate the metal and avoid fragile seals,” said Nadimpalli. He added that thinner electrolytes, cheaper collectors, and compact designs could push performance even further.
