Novel Composite Fuel Electrode for CH4-SOFC and CO2-SOEC

Abstract

The development of reversible solid oxide cells allows to use a single device to derive chemicals from power (power-to-fuel technology) and power from chemicals (fuel-to-power technology). We investigated a composite fuel electrode (60 wt.% La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8Mn0.2O3-δ and 40 wt.% (5 wt.% Ni)-containing Ce0.58Sm0.15O2-δ) for dry methane oxidation in SOFC-mode and for CO2 reduction in SOEC-mode. In reducing conditions, Fe exsolved from the LSFMn perovskite formed a Ni-Fe alloy with Ni present on SDC. When tested as SOFC anode, the composite was active towards dry methane oxidation at 800°C and stable for over 40h; if tested as SOEC cathode, it showed remarkable activity for CO2 reduction. EIS analysis was used to have a better understanding of the cell mechanisms in SOFC and SOEC mode.