Carbon-Resistant Micro Tubular SOFCs Fabricated by Co-Spinning Process Based on a Phase-Inversion Method

Abstract

The dual layer ceramic hollow fibers, such as YSZ/Ni-YSZ or Ni-YSZ/porous YSZ for the micro tubular solid oxide fuel cells were prepared by a co-spinning-sintering process. The cells from YSZ/Ni-YSZ dual layer hollow fiber show a high output power density using hydrogen as the fuel, but a short life time using methane as fuel due to carbon deposition. An improved Ni-YSZ/porous YSZ dual-layer hollow fiber is co-spun for carbon-resistant dual-composition anode. The micro tubular SOFC is fabricated by dip-coating a dense YSZ electrolyte membrane on the top Ni-YSZ layer, and impregnating Cu-CeO2, a carbon-resistant catalyst, into porous YSZ support. The fabricated micro tubular SOFCs with Ni-YSZ/Cu-CeO2-YSZ double anode show both a high power output and a good stability using the dry methane fuel. No carbon deposition is observed on the dual-layer anode.