Processing Parameters of Mechanically Obtained NiO/YSZ Composite Particles and their Relevance to Properties of Ni/YSZ SOFC Cermet Anode

NiO/Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) composite particles for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode was fabricated by an advanced mechanical method using an attrition type particle composing machine in dry ambient. In this study, two sets of composite particles with different mixing time were prepared. Structure of the composite particles was markedly influenced by the mixing time since the morphology of the resultant Ni/YSZ cermet anode changed with the mixing time. Then, the relationship between the structure of composite particles and the properties of the Ni/YSZ cermet anode were examined. When the composite particles processed with mixing time of 5min were used, the cermet anode showed lower electrical performance at both 800°C and 1000°C. On the other hand, the longer processed composite particles (30min) resulted in higher electrical performance. The difference of anode performances was explained by the change in cermet morphology associated with the mechanical processing time. These results suggested that the mechanical processing for NiO/YSZ composite particles significantly influenced SOFC anode performance.