Effects of Pretreatment Methods on Electrodes and SOFC Performance

Abstract

Commercially available tapes (anode, electrolyte) and paste (cathode) were choosen to prepare anode-supported cells for solid oxide fuel cell applications. For both anode-supported cells or electrolyte-supported cells, the anode needs pretreatment to reduce NiO/YSZ to Ni/YSZ to increase its conductivity as well as its catalytic characteristics. In this study, the effects of different pretreatments (open-circuit, closed-circuit) on cathode and anodes as well as SOFC performance are investigated. To investigate the influence of closed-circuit pretreatment on the NiO/YSZ anode alone, a Pt cathode is utilized as reference for comparison with the LSM cathode. The characterization of the electrical resistance, AC impedance, and SOFC performance of the resulting electrodes and/or anode-supported cell were carried out. It's found that the influence of open-circuit pretreatment on the LSM cathode is limited. However, the influence of closed-circuit pretreatment on both the LSM cathode and NiO/YSZ anode and the resulting SOFC performance is profound. The effect of closed-circuit pretreatment on the NiO/YSZ anode is attributed to its change of electronic/pore structure as well as catalytic characteristics. With closed-circuit pretreatment, the SOFC performance improved greatly from the change of LSM cathode (and Pt reference) compared to the Ni/YSZ anode. OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2014, 7 3923

Voltage production and simultaneous municipal wastewater treatment in microbial fuel cells performed with Clostridium strains

“…Electrodes employed for voltage production were made by graphite cloth, which were previously treated with 1 M hydrochloric acid solution during 1 hour followed by 1 hour contact with 1 M sodium hydroxide solution, after that, electrodes were washed with deionized water and sterilized in autoclave (Serment et al, 2017). The electrodes pretreatment is aimed to increase roughness and current production and to reduce ohmic loses (Jung et al, 2014). The assembled MFC's were washed with 70%v ethanol prior to operation.…”

Thermal Residual Stress and Failure Probability of Functionally Grade Ni-YSZ Anode of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Using a Finite Element Analysis

“…Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology is a promising clean energy technology that converts chemical energy in fuels and oxygen directly into electrical energy. It has the advantages of high energy conversion efficiency, low pollution and high flexibility of fuel choices (1)(2)(3)(4). A typical SOFC single cell consists of a porous anode, a porous cathode and a dense electrolyte.…”

Effect of Sintering Temperature and Applied Load on Anode-Supported Electrodes for SOFC Application

“…The firing profiles in the cathode-heating box are as follows: first, a firing step from 25 °C (room After hot-pressing, the compressed tape was placed in an anode-heating box. The firing profiles are as follows: first, a firing step from 25 °C (room temperature) to 650 °C for 15 h and 30 min with the heating rate controlled at ~0.67 °C•min −1 ; second, a firing step from 650 °C to the target temperature of 1000 °C for 4 h with the heating rate controlled at ~1.46 °C•min −1 ; third, a firing step from 1000 °C to the target temperature of 1400 °C for 5 h with the heating rate controlled at ~1.33 °C• min −1 ; fourth, a firing step to maintain the target temperature of 1400 °C for another 1 h and 50 min; fifth, the firing was decreased from 1400 °C to the target temperature of 700 °C for 4 h; and, finally, cooling [31,32]. The anode-supported firing steps are shown in Figure 2a.…”

“…Energies 2016, 9, 701 5 of 13 temperature) to 125 °C for 1 h with the heating rate controlled at ~1.66 °C•min −1 ; second, a firing step to maintain the target temperature of 125 °C for another 20 min; third, a firing step from 125 °C to the target temperature of 1200 °C for 4 h and 30 min with the heating rate controlled at ~3.98 °C•min −1 ; fourth, a firing step to maintain the target temperature of 1200 °C for another 2 h; and, finally, cooling [31,32]. The firing steps for the printed cathode are shown in Figure 2b.…”