Direct octane fuel cells: A promising power for transportation

The demand for electric vehicles has inspired extensive efforts to develop solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for transportation. However, the high cost of hydrogen fueled SOFC systems and the deactivation of Ni-YSZ anodes in hydrocarbon fuels hinder the progress of SOFCs' development and commercialization. Here, we report a unique multi-functional anode for SOFCs that allows direct utilization of transportation fuels (iso-octane) without co-feeding O-2 and CO2, demonstrating a peak power density of similar to 0.6 W/cm(2) at 750 degrees C. The multi-functional anode is derived from a conventional NiO-YSZ anode with BaCO3 modification in the anode support, creating a catalytically active conformal coating of BaZr1-xYxO3-delta (BZY) on YSZ and nano-islands of BaO on Ni surface, which greatly promote reforming of octane and oxidation of the reformed fuels. Further, the simple and cost-effective modification process can be readily adopted in the fabrication of the state-of-the-art NiO-YSZ supported cells. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.