Effect of Nano Ion Conductor Infiltration on the Performance of Anode Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

A high performance anode supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is developed by low-cost tape casting, co-sintering and nano-ion conductor infiltration techniques. The mixture of gadolinium and cerium nitrate solution is infiltrated into both anode and cathode layers and fired at a temperature that gadolinium nitrate and cerium nitrate undergoes a solid state reaction and forms nano ion conductor phase in both electrodes. The effect of molar concentrations and firing temperature of nano ion conductor phase on the cell performance are investigated. The measurements show that nano-sized ion conductor infiltration significantly improves the cell performance. The cell provides 1.718Wcm-2 maximum power density at an operation temperature of 750{degree sign}C. The high performance is attributed to increase in the oxide ion conductivity and three phase boundaries of both anode and cathode layers by nano ion-conductor infiltration.