Inkjet Printing Infiltration of the Doped Ceria Interlayer in Commercial Anode-Supported SOFCs.

Rumen I Tomov,Ramachandran Vasant Kumar,Michal Kawalec,Bartek A Glowacki,Eleonora Venezia,Mariusz Krauz,Thomas B Mitchel-Williams

doi:10.3390/nano11113095

Rumen I Tomov, Ramachandran Vasant Kumar + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11113095

Copy DOI

Abstract

Single-step inkjet printing infiltration with doped ceria Ce0.9Ye0.1O1.95 (YDC) and cobalt oxide (CoxOy) precursor inks was performed in order to modify the properties of the doped ceria interlayer in commercial (50 × 50 × 0.5 mm3 size) anode-supported SOFCs. The penetration of the inks throughout the La0.8Sr0.2Co0.5Fe0.5O3−δ porous cathode to the Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 (GDC) interlayer was achieved by optimisation of the inks’ rheology jetting parameters. The low-temperature calcination (750 °C) resulted in densification of the Gd-doped ceria porous interlayer as well as decoration of the cathode scaffold with nanoparticles (~20–50 nm in size). The I–V testing in pure hydrogen showed a maximum power density gain of ~20% at 700 °C and ~97% at 800 °C for the infiltrated cells. The latter effect was largely assigned to the improvement in the interfacial Ohmic resistance due to the densification of the interlayer. The EIS study of the polarisation losses of the reference and infiltrated cells revealed a reduction in the activation polarisations losses at 700 °C due to the nano-decoration of the La0.8Sr0.2Co0.5Fe0.5O3−δ scaffold surface. Such was not the case at 800 °C, where the drop in Ohmic losses was dominant. This work demonstrated that single-step inkjet printing infiltration, a non-disruptive, low-cost technique, can produce significant and scalable performance enhancements in commercial anode-supported SOFCs.

Highlights

Commercial solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) provide highly efficient energy conversion, simultaneously offering the additional benefit of combined heat and power generation.One of the attractive properties of high-temperature SOFCs is the ability to use hydrocarbon fuels directly through internal reforming within the fuel cell stack
A common approach toward resolving the latter issue is replacing the classical La1-x Srx MnO3−δ (LSM) cathode with mixed ion–electron conductors (MIECs), which were reported to have higher tolerance toward Cr species compared to LSM electrodes [11,12]
This study focuses on the use of dual infiltration via a non-disruptive scalable technique, namely inkjet printing infiltration (IJI), for improving the performance of commercial anode-supported SOFCs (50 × 50 × 0.5 mm3 in size)

Summary

Introduction

One of the attractive properties of high-temperature SOFCs is the ability to use hydrocarbon fuels directly through internal reforming within the fuel cell stack. Such SOFCs typically operate at high temperatures (800–1000 ◦ C) allowing for fuel flexibility [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The introduction of MIECs as cathode materials results in an enlargement of the surface active areas involved in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR [13]). LSCF is often used as a material of choice due to a combination of high electronic conductivity and high oxygen ionic conductivity.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion