Characterization of MOy-MxCe1-xO2-? (M: Co, Ni & Cu) nano powders and anode materials for low and intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

The development of new anode materials is necessary for low and intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to improve fuel cell lifetime and performance and to decrease operating temperature. In this study, new nanocrystalline anode powder materials with the novel composition: MOy-MxCe1-xO2-delta (M = Ni, Co and Cu) were synthesized by glycine nitrate process (GNP). The crystal structure, morphology, specific surface area (SSA), particle size and distribution of the synthesized powders, and cell performance were investigated using various techniques (e.g., BET, SEM, XRD, TEM). The results demonstrated significant improvement on the powder characteristics to optimize the property of the anode materials. The synthesized nano powders consisted of two main phases with fluorite and rock salt crystal structure. The nano scale particle size and distribution ranged from 5 to 600 nm with a high SSA of 14.95-20.50 m(2) g(-1), which are quite important characteristics for high performance anode materials such as porosity, density and contact surface area. Electrolyte supported single cells having LSWGDC/ceria-based anode produced from aforementioned nano powders exhibited high performance of 0.35 W cm(-2) at 700 degrees C under 25 ml/min pure and dry methane (CH4) feeding. Dry hydrogen (99.9%) was used as a starting gas to reduce anode layer side for 30 min. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.