Preparation and Characterizations of NiYSZ-based Anode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Solid Oxide Electrolyser Cells

Abstract

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) offer their ability to directly convert hydrocarbon fuel into electricity via internal dry reforming. NiYSZ-based SOFC anodes were manufactured via aqueous tape casting. Raw materials such as NiO and yttria-stabilized ZrO2 powders, glycerol, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and water were weighed and mixed. The obtained slurry was ball milled for 12 hours, de-gassed, tape-cast, and dried at ambient temperature to obtain smooth, crack-free, elastic, and easy to remove green tapes. The good green tapes were then sintered at 1200˚C. The sintered tapes were characterized for their morphology, topography, and composition by using SEM/EDX. The hardness uses Vickers hardness tests while the electrical conductivity at 600-800 o C uses a special furnace and a multimeter. On the other hand, the porosity is being tested by the Archimedes method. The results showed that good SOFC anode tapes were obtained after degassing in the range of 32 -125 hours depending on the amount of PVA and water added to the mixture. The resulting morphology and topography of the anode tapes were comparable with those of the reference anode tape, with pore sizes ranging from 100ɳm-1μm and 28% porosity (pore volume). The tapes' hardness after sintering was in the range of 170.3 HV and 212.2 HV. Under the condition, their conductivities were 0.098 Siemens and 0.529 Siemens at 750 o C and 800 o C respectively. The successful attempts to make NiYSZ-based SOFC anodes using locally available materials and equipment are promising as the initial steps for further development of SOFC manufacturing in Indonesia. The developed SOFC will be further tested as a Solid Oxide Electrolyser Cell (SOEC) to produce hydrogen.