Electrical Performance of NiO-CeO2 Catalysts Layer for Anode Supported Proton Ceramic Fuel Cells

Abstract

Current research on PCFCs focuses mostly on the manufacturing of novel cell component materials, including the electrolyte, anode, and cathode, for a variety of cell geometries. It has been demonstrated that the microstructure of the electrodes has a significant impact on the cell performance; consequently, establishing the cell manufacturing technology is crucial for realizing the appropriate electrode microstructure and for creating new technologies to improve the performance of the electrodes. Recently, an anode catalyst layer (ACL) has been employed on the anode surface to improve fuel cell performance. This work reports on the electrical performance of NiO-CeO2 catalysts layered onto NiO-BCZY (BCZY = BaCe0.54Zr0.36Y0.1O2.95) anode-supported proton ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) as CeO2 has been reported to be a good promoter for PCFC and a good catalyst for hydrocarbon reforming reactions. The NiO-CeO2 catalysts were incorporated onto the NiO-BCZY anode by spin-coating technique. The anode-supported NiO-BCZY|BCZY|LSCF (LSCF methods. = La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-α) button cells were fabricated using sol-gel, dry-pressing and spin-coating The electrical performance of NiO-CeO2/NiO BCZY|BCZY|LSCF cell was analyzed in a hydrogen environment at a temperature of 800 °C using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. The microstructure of the fabricated NiO-CeO2/NiO-BCZY|BCZY|LSCF was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrical performance of the NiO CeO2/NiO-BCZY|BCZY|LSCF shows ohmic and polarization resistance of 19.00 Ω cm2 and 2.97 Ω cm2, respectively. The ohmic resistance measured is considerably high due to lower electrolyte density and the delamination of catalyst at the catalyst-anode layer during the testing. SEM analysis indicates less dense BCZY electrolyte thin film with average pore size and porosity distribution of ~5.115 μm and 5.427%, respectively.