Development of High-Entropy Alloy (HEA) Anode for Carbon-Free and Electrochemically-Stable Operation of SOFC on Hydrocarbon Fuels

Abstract

High-entropy alloy (HEA) anode, consisting of multicomponent alloy and gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) powders, were synthesized and evaluated for ethanol steam reforming under SOFC operating conditions using a fixed-bed reactor as well as electrochemical performance using a button cell test configuration. Both bench-top and cell tests were conducted at 700 °C with a steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio of 2. While Ni anode showed filamentary carbon formation, and performance degradation with time, HEA/GDC catalyst showed stable performance without carbon deposition. As an anode, HEA/GDC demonstrated high electrochemical stability and comparable current density compared to the Ni electrode.