Effect of carbon deposition by carbon monoxide disproportionation on electrochemical characteristics at low temperature operation for solid oxide fuel cells

The deterioration by carbon deposition was evaluated for electrolyte- and anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in comparison with carbon monoxide disproportionation and methane cracking. The polarization resistance of the nickel-yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) anode increased with a rise in CO concentration in H-2-CO-CO2 mixture for the electrolyte-supported cells at 923 K. The resistance, however, did not change against CO concentration for the anode-supported cells. In a methane fuel with a steam/carbon (S/C) ratio of 0.1, the cell performance decreased for both of the cells at 1073K. A large amount of agglomerated amorphous carbon was deposited from the anode surface to the interface between the anode and the electrolyte after power generation at S/C = 0.1 in methane fuel. On the other hand, the crystalline graphite was deposited only at the anode surface for the anode-supported cell after power generation in CO-CO2 mixture. These results suggest that the reaction rate of CO disproportionation is faster than that of methane cracking. The deposited carbon near the anode/electrolyte interface caused the increase in the polarization resistance. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.