以甲醇为燃料的中温固体氧化物燃料电池性能研究

制备了阳极负载型LDC-LSGM双层电解质薄膜电池.考察了单电池在分别使用甲醇和氢气两种燃料时,不同温度下的I～V性能.以甲醇为燃料,以空气为氧化剂时,800℃下的最大输出功率密度为1.07W/cm²,而使用氢气为燃料时,最大输出功率密度为1.54W/cm².通过交流阻抗研究了造成甲醇性能降低的可能原因.结果表明,以甲醇作为燃料时,单电池性能较氢气作为燃料时低.     

High performance anode-supported intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) with La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3−δ electrolyte films prepared by electrophoretic deposition

Remarkable power density was obtained for anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on La_0.8Sr_0.2Ga_0.8Mg_0.2O_3−δ (LSGM) electrolyte films, fabricated following an original procedure that allowed avoiding undesired reactions between LSGM and electrode materials, especially Ni. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was used for the fabrication of 30 μm-thick electrolyte films. Anode supports were made of La_0.4Ce_0.6O_2−x (LDC). The LSGM powder was deposited by EPD on an LDC green tape-cast membrane added with carbon powder, both as pore former and substrate conductivity booster. A subsequent co-firing step at 1490 °C produced dense electrolyte films on porous LDC skeletons. Then, a La_0.8Sr_0.2Fe_0.8Co_0.2O_3−δ (LSFC) cathode was applied by slurry-coating and calcined at 1100 °C. Finally, the porous LDC layer was impregnated with molten Ni nitrate to obtain, after calcination at 900 °C, a composite NiO–LDC anode. Maximum power densities of 780, 450, 275, 175, and 100 mW/cm² at 700, 650, 600, 550, and 500 °C, respectively, were obtained using H₂ as fuel and air as oxidant, demonstrating the success of the processing strategy. As a comparison, electrolyte-supported SOFCs made of the same materials were tested, showing a maximum power density of 150 mW/cm² at 700 °C, more than 5 times smaller than the anode-supported counterpart.     

Effect of cosintering of anode–electrolyte bilayer on the fabrication of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

A comparative study is carried out on the effect of cosintering temperature of anode–electrolyte bilayer on the fabrication and cell performance of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells from commercially available tape casting materials. It was found that the sintering conditions have profound effects on the anode characteristic and cell performance. For low cosintering temperature as low as 1,250 °C, the electrolyte is unable to sinter fully and forms a porous structure which leads to a reduced open-circuit potential and poor cell performance especially under low current output. For further increasing cosintering temperature to 1,350 °C, the cell performance was lower under low current operation. However, the cell performance turns out to be better than that of high-temperature cosintering under high current output. Although at temperature as high as 1,500 °C the cell performs better than that of low temperature cosintering, the trend turn out to be reverse for high current operating due to less anode surface area resulting from overagglomeration of anode layer. An optimal cosintering temperature of 1,350–1,450 °C is recommended for commercially available anode–electrolyte bilayer of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells.     

Effect of pretreatments on the anode structure of solid oxide fuel cells

An important objective in the development of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is to produce thin stabilized zirconia electrolytes that are supported upon the nickel–zirconia composite anode. Although this will reduce some of the problems associated with SOFCs by permitting lower temperature operation, this design may encounter problems during start- up. The first step in a start-up involves the reduction of nickel oxide in the anode to metallic nickel and increase of three-phase boundary will be beneficial for further reaction. In this study, two pretreatment methods are investigated for their effects on the performances of SOFC. Performances of the SOFCs are influenced by the pretreatment conditions, which included exposure of the cells to dilute H₂/O₂ either under open-circuit or closed-circuit conditions before their performance studies. By carrying out the methods, the pretreatment using the closed circuit is found to attain much higher performances effectively and efficiently. Accompanying with SEM and element analysis, increase of three-phase boundary is considered to give rise to changes in the anode microstructure, leading to activation of the anode. Mechanisms of NiO in anode reducing to Ni and porous structure via different pretreatments and their effects on the anode microstructure are proposed.