Role of Dopants on Ceria-based Anodes for IT-SOFCs Powered by Hydrocarbon Fuels

Abstract

The direct use of hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon-derived fuels to generate electrical power has the potential to accelerate substantially the use of fuel cells in transportation and distributed-power applications. Most fuel-cell research has involved the use of hydrogen as the fuel, although the practical generation and storage of hydrogen remains an important technological hurdle. Although hydrocarbon fuels have been successfully oxidised or reformed electrochemically, the susceptibility to carbon formation or poor power densities has prevented the application of these fuels in practical applications. In this manuscript, the effect of different dopants on the properties of Cu-ceria based anodes for IT-SOFCs powered by hydrocarbon fuels has been explored. Four dopants atoms (Co, Ca, Ag and Rh) with different properties and concomitant varied effects on properties of the final material are studied. They have been selected in order to improve the electrical and textural properties of anode material as well as the catalytic activity for hydrocarbon oxidation. Results revealed a strong dependence of the final properties of the anode formulation and mechanism involved in the electro-oxidation of the different fuels. Different doping successfully improves the behaviour of anode material for IT-SOFCs powered by hydrocarbon fuels and reasonable power densities can be achieved.

Catalytically Active and Carbon-Resistive Anode Catalyst for Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells Operated at Low Temperatures (500–600 °C)

“…Also, the maximum performances of the fuel cells using NLC622-LDC, NLC226-LDC, and NLC028-LDC at 600 °C were 630, 500, and 430 mW/cm 2 , respectively. These results are much better than those reported in the literature. ,, The sample NLC622-LDC has much higher performance as compared to the other two samples. This sample also has higher conductivity as well as stability.…”

“…These results are much better than those reported in the literature. 24,49,50 The sample NLC622-LDC has much higher performance as compared to the other two samples. This sample also has higher conductivity as well as stability.…”

Rational synthesis of 10GDC electrolyte through a microwave irradiation GNP facile route for SOFC applications

“…2,3 It is well known that ceria (CeO 2 ) is a promising material as a catalyst as well as an electrolyte for the SOFC applications. 4,5 The CeO 2 -based materials are known to promote heterogeneous catalytic reactions 6,7 while the doped ceria electrolytes have exhibited high ionic conductivity and high efficiency in comparison to the conventionally used electrolytes even at temperatures below 600 C. 1,8 The major drawbacks of conventional electrolyte materials are: cell degradation, thermo chemical instability, disturbance in the thermal expansion coefficient and high manufacturing cost due to high operating temperature. 1,[9][10][11][12] These drawbacks could be overcome to some extent by the gadolinium-doped cerium oxide (GDC), particularly for low and intermediate temperature SOFC applications.…”

Improving electrochemical performance of (Cu, Sm)CeO2 anode with anchored Cu nanoparticles for direct utilization of natural gas in solid oxide fuel cells

“…Ceria (cerium oxide) is a well-known oxidation catalyst [19] which is expected to increase the activity of the anode for the electrochemical oxidation of hydrocarbon [20][21][22]. Doping ceria has been the subject of great interest because the addition of dopants greatly increases the concentration of oxygen vacancies, enhances catalytic activity of hydrocarbon oxidation and improves thermal stability of ceria [23,24].…”