Infiltrated Ni0.08Co0.02CeO2- x@Ni0.8Co0.2 Catalysts for a Finger-Like Anode in Direct Methane-Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Nai Shi; Yun Xie; Yi Yang; Daoming Huan; Yang Pan; Ranran Peng; Changrong Xia; Chusheng Chen; Zhongliang Zhan; Yalin Lu

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c17339

Infiltrated Ni_0.08Co_0.02CeO_{2- x}@Ni_0.8Co_0.2 Catalysts for a Finger-Like Anode in Direct Methane-Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Feb 3;13(4):4943-4954. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c17339. Epub 2021 Jan 25.

Authors

Nai Shi¹, Yun Xie¹, Yi Yang¹, Daoming Huan¹, Yang Pan², Ranran Peng^{1

3

4}, Changrong Xia¹, Chusheng Chen¹, Zhongliang Zhan¹, Yalin Lu^{1

3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, China.
² National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, China.
³ Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, China.
⁴ Hefei National Laboratory of Physical Science at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, China.
⁵ Anhui Laboratory of Advanced Photon Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, China.

PMID: 33492121
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c17339

Abstract

Direct utilization of methane in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is greatly impeded by the grievous carbon deposition and the much depressed catalytic activity. In this work, a promising anode, taking finger-like porous YSZ as the anode substrate and impregnated Ni_0.08Co_0.02Ce_0.9O_2-δ@Ni_0.8Co_0.2O as the novel catalyst, is fabricated via the phase conversion-combined tape-casting technique. This anode shows commendable mechanical strength and excellent catalytic activity and stability toward the methane conversion reactions, which is attributed to the exsolved alloy nanoparticles and the active oxygen species on the reduced Ni_0.08Co_0.02Ce_0.9O_2-δ catalyst as well as the facilitated methane transport rooting in the special open-pore microstructure of the anode substrate. Strikingly, this button cell delivers an excellent peak power density of 730 mW cm^-2 at 800 °C in 97% CH₄/3% H₂O fuel, only 9% lower than that in 97% H₂/3% H₂O. Our work shed new light on the SOFC anode developments.

Keywords: carbon deposition; methane fuel; oxygen species; reaction mechanism; solid oxide fuel cell.