Synthesize and characterization of nanocomposite anodes for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells have much capability to become an economical alternative energy conversion technology having appropriate materials that can be operated at comparatively low temperature in the range of 400-600 o C. The nano-scale engineering has been incorporated to improve the catalytic activity of anode materials for solid oxide fuel cells. Nanostructured Al 0.10 Ni x Zn 0.90-xO oxides were prepared by solid state reaction, which were then mixed with the prepared Gadolinium doped Ceria GDC electrolyte. The crystal structure and surface morphology were characterized by XRD and SEM. The particle size was evaluated by XRD data and found in the range of 20-50 nm, which was then ensured by SEM pictures. The pellets of 13mm diameter were pressed by dry press technique and electrical conductivities (DC and AC) were determined by four probe techniques and the values have been found to be 10.84 and 4.88 S/cm, respectively at hydrogen atmosphere in the temperature range of 300-600 o C. The Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis exhibits the pure electronic behavior at hydrogen atmosphere. The maximum power density of ANZ-GDC composite anode based solid oxide fuel cell has been achieved 705mW/cm 2 at 550 o C.

ZnO-promoted surface diffusion on NiO-Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 anode for solid oxide fuel cell

“…Zn can form alloys with Ni, Pd and Pt, and influence the crystal facet and electronic structure of the active sites, resulting in the modification of activity and selectivity of the catalysts for methanol steam reforming, hydrogenation of acetylene and selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol [23][24][25][26]. A few of previous works reported the performance improvement of Ni-based anode with the addition of Zn using H2 as fuel [27,28]. However, that improvement was mainly attributed to the increase of electronic conductivity of the anode, while the effect of Zn/ZnO on catalytic activity was not well recognized.…”

Recent Advances and Challenges in Thin-Film Fabrication Techniques for Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

“…In comparison to Ni-SDC, the cell performance was shown to improve when the molar ratio of Fe:Co:Ni approached 1:1:2, where, by using Fe 0.25 Co 0.25 Ni 0.5 -SDC as the anode, a cell polarisation resistance of 0.11 Ω•cm 2 and a power density of ~750 mW•cm −2 at 600 • C were reported [172]. Other trimetallic anode alloys of Al 0.10 Ni x Zn 0.90−x O [173] and Cu-Co-Ni-SDC [174] have also been studied as potential anode composites for LT-SOFCs based on GDC electrolytes.…”

Fabrication of Catechol Sensitized Hollow Microspheres ZnTiO3/TiO2/ZnO for the Photodegradation of Methylene Blue

“…Currently, the research on semiconductor photocatalysts face issues such as expensive raw materials, complicated synthesis steps, and low degradation efficiency, which greatly limited them in practical applications [4,5] . Semiconductor materials like TiO 2 and ZnO are widely used in photocatalysts, solar cells and sensors [6–8] . However, due to the inherent property defects of ZnO and TiO 2 , there are some problems in the photocatalytic process, such as easy recombination of carriers and low redox reaction efficiency.…”