An active functional layer for carbon-tolerant anode of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

A highly active anode functional layer NiTiO3-Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 (NTO-SDC) is proposed to improve electrochemical performance of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) with carbontolerant Ni-TiO2-delta anode. When exposing to the H-2 atmosphere, NTO in both anode support and anode functional layer can be totally reduced to Ni and TiO2-delta. Meanwhile, a small amount of Sm2Ti2O7 pyrochlore structure phase owning acceptable oxygen-ion conduction can be observed after high temperature sintering at 1250 degrees C. Maximum power densities of anode-supported NTO/NTO-SDC/SDC/La0.8Sr0.2Co0.2Fe0.8O3-delta (LSCF)-SDC single cells, are 338 mWcm(-2) and 223 mWcm(-2) with wet H-2 and methane fuels at 700 degrees C, respectively. Short-time stability test for anode-supported cells with NTO-SDC anode functional layer shows no obvious degradation with discharging at 0.5 V in wet methane fuel. Preliminary results have demonstrated that fabricating an anode functional layer of NTO-SDC is a facile and efficient strategy to improve electrochemical performance of IT-SOFCs with carbon-tolerant anode. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.