The effect of porosity gradient in a Nickel/Yttria Stabilized Zirconia anode for an anode-supported planar solid oxide fuel cell

By An, Chung Min; Song, Jung-Hoon; Kang, Inyong & Sammes, Nigel
Published in Journal of Power Sources NULL 2010

Abstract

In this paper, a graded Ni/YSZ cermet anode, an 8 mol.%YSZ electrolyte, and a lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) cathode were used to fabricate a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) unit. An anode-supported cell was prepared using a tape casting technique followed by hot pressing lamination and a single step co-firing process, allowing for the creation of a thin layer of dense electrolyte on a porous anode support. To reduce activation and concentration overpotential in the unit cell, a porosity gradient was developed in the anode using different percentages of pore former to a number of different tape-slurries, followed by tape casting and lamination of the tapes. The unit cell demonstrated that a concentration distribution of porosity in the anode increases the power in the unit cell from 76 mW cm-2 to 101 mW cm-2 at 600 °C in humidified hydrogen. Although the results have not been optimized for good performance, the effect of the porosity gradient is quite apparent and has potential in developing superior anode systems.

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