CeO2 and Nb2O5 modified Ni-YSZ anode for solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract

Ni sintering at high temperature (∼ 800 °C) operation drastically degrades the performance of Ni-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) anode in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Mixed ionic and electronic conductive oxides such as CeO2 and Nb2O5 enhance the dispersion of Ni, CeO2 enhances the redox behavior and promotes charge transfer reactions, and Nb2O5 increases the triple phase boundary. In the present work, anode-supported SOFC is fabricated and tested in H2 fuel at 800 °C. YSZ and lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM)-YSZ are used as the electrolyte and composite cathode with NiO-YSZ, CeO2-NiO-YSZ, and Nb2O5-NiO-YSZ as an anode. The peak power density obtained for the cell with 10% CeO2–30% NiO-YSZ anode at the 5 and 25 h of operation is 330 and 290 mW cm−2 which is higher than that for 40% NiO-YSZ anode (275 mW cm−2 at 5 h). The peak power density obtained for the cell with 10% Nb2O5–30% NiO-YSZ anode at the 5 and 25 h of operation is 301 and 285 mW cm−2 which is higher than that for 40% NiO-YSZ anode (275 mW cm−2 at 5 h). Physical characterization has been carried to study morphology, elemental analysis, particle size, and phase formation of the fabricated anode before and after cell operation to correlate the cell performance.