High-performance low-temperature solid oxide fuel cell with novel BSCF cathode

Abstract An anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), consisting of a dense 10 μm Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 (GDC) electrolyte, a porous Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ (BSCF) cathode and a porous Ni–GDC cermet anode, is successfully assembled and electrochemically characterized. With humidified (3% water vapour) hydrogen as the fuel and air as the oxidant, the cell exhibits open-circuit voltages of 0.903 and 0.984 V when operating at 600 and 500 °C, respectively. The cell produces peak power densities of 1329, 863, 454, 208 and 83 mW cm−2 at 600, 550, 500, 450 and 400 °C, respectively. These results are impressive and demonstrate the potential of BSCF for use as the cathode material in new-generation SOFCs with GDC as the electrolyte. In addition, the sustained performance at temperatures below 600 °C warrants commercial exploitation of this SOFC in stationary and mobile applications.

[1]  J. D. Carter,et al.  Development of Solid‐Oxide Fuel Cells That Operate at 500°C , 1999 .

[2]  S. Chan,et al.  Low-temperature SOFC with thin film GDC electrolyte prepared in situ by solid-state reaction , 2004 .

[3]  Meilin Liu,et al.  Novel Cathodes for Low‐Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells , 2002 .

[4]  N. Minh.  Ceramic Fuel Cells , 1993 .

[5]  John B. Goodenough,et al.  Increasing Power Density of LSGM-Based Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Using New Anode Materials , 2001 .

[6]  S. Zha,et al.  Novel Nanostructured Electrodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Fabricated by Combustion Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) , 2004 .

[7]  John A. Kilner,et al.  Optimisation of composite cathodes for intermediate temperature SOFC applications , 1999 .

[8]  K. Kendall,et al.  High temperature solid oxide fuel cells : fundamentals, design and applicatons , 2003 .

[9]  S. Badwal,et al.  Investigation of the stability of ceria-gadolinia electrolytes in solid oxide fuel cell environments , 1999 .

[10]  S. Singhal,et al.  Polarization Effects in Intermediate Temperature, Anode‐Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells , 1999 .

[11]  Anil V. Virkar,et al.  A High Performance, Anode-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Operating on Direct Alcohol , 2001 .

[12]  Scott A. Barnett,et al.  Increased solid-oxide fuel cell power density using interfacial ceria layers , 1997 .

[13]  Toru Inagaki,et al.  Performance of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells with La(Sr)Ga(Mg)O3 electrolyte film , 2002 .

[14]  I. Metcalfe,et al.  Solid oxide fuel cells based on Ce(Gd)O2 − x electrolytes , 1996 .

[15]  Zongping Shao,et al.  A high-performance cathode for the next generation of solid-oxide fuel cells , 2004, Nature.

[16]  Brian C. H. Steele,et al.  Appraisal of Ce1−yGdyO2−y/2 electrolytes for IT-SOFC operation at 500°C , 2000 .

[17]  Zongping Shao,et al.  Investigation of the permeation behavior and stability of a Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ oxygen membrane , 2000 .

[18]  N. Sammes,et al.  Physical, chemical and electrochemical properties of pure and doped ceria , 2000 .

[19]  Changrong Xia,et al.  Low-temperature SOFCs based on Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 fabricated by dry pressing , 2001 .

[20]  D. Perednis,et al.  Fabrication of thin electrolytes for second-generation solid oxide fuel cells , 2000 .

[21]  S. Chan,et al.  Development of ( La , Sr ) MnO3-Based Cathodes for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells , 2003 .

[22]  Wenzheng Li,et al.  Fabrication and Testing of a Doped Lanthanum Gallate Electrolyte Thin-Film Solid Oxide Fuel Cell , 2002 .

[23]  T. Ishihara,et al.  Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Using LaGaO3 Electrolyte II. Improvement of Oxide Ion Conductivity and Power Density by Doping Fe for Ga Site of LaGaO3 , 2000 .

[24]  Meilin Liu,et al.  Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 cathodes for low-temperature SOFCs , 2002 .

[25]  S. D. Souza.  Thin-film solid oxide fuel cell with high performance at low-temperature , 1997 .