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Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2023, 12(3): 474-486 https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220697
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 15 February 2023

Functional ceramic support as an independent catalyst layer for direct liquid fuel solid oxide fuel cells

Show Author's Information Jie Luoa,b,  Kai Zhaoa,b( ),  Jishi Zhaoc,d( ),  Jun Lia,b,  Yihui Liue,  Dongchu Chena,b,  Qing Xuf,  Min Chena,b
School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
Foshan Institute of Environment and Energy Technology, Foshan 528000, China
R&D Center of Hydrogen Energy Standardization, Yunfu 527300, China
Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components & Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Keywords:
methanol, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), independent catalyst layer, NiMo–Ce0.9Ca0.1O2−δ catalyst, internal reforming
Cite this article:
Luo J, Zhao K, Zhao J, et al. Functional ceramic support as an independent catalyst layer for direct liquid fuel solid oxide fuel cells. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2023, 12(3): 474-486. https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220697
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

A porous ceramic support is designed as a multi-functional independent catalyst layer for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) running on liquid hydrocarbon fuel. The layer consists of a highly porous Ce0.9Ca0.1O2−δ ceramic backbone and active NiMo catalysts, which could be integrated into the conventional Ni metal containing the anode for internal reforming of the hydrocarbon fuel. Compared to conventional catalyst layers sintered on the anodes, this independent catalyst layer could be simply assembled on top of the anode without additional sintering, thereby avoiding the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficient between the catalyst layer and the anode and improving stability of a single cell. Moreover, a current collector layer could be inserted between the catalyst and the anode to enhance current collection efficiency and electrochemical performance of the single cell. At 750 ℃, the independent catalyst layer displays high activity towards the catalytic decomposition of methanol, and the single cell could achieve the maximum power density of 400–500 mW·cm−2 in dry methanol. Furthermore, by employing the independent catalyst layer, the single cell offers additional in-situ catalyst regeneration capability under the methanol operation mode. Feeding 10 mL·min−1 air into an anode channel for 5 min is found to be effective to burn out carbon species in the catalyst layer, which reduces the degradation rate of the cell voltage by orders of magnitude from 2.6 to 0.024 mV·h−1 during the operation of 360 h in dry methanol. The results demonstrate the significance of the independent catalyst layer design for direct internal reforming methanol fuel cells.


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About this article

Functional ceramic support as an independent catalyst layer for direct liquid fuel solid oxide fuel cells

Show Author's information Jie Luoa,b, Kai Zhaoa,b( ), Jishi Zhaoc,d( ), Jun Lia,b, Yihui Liue, Dongchu Chena,b, Qing Xuf, Min Chena,b
School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
Foshan Institute of Environment and Energy Technology, Foshan 528000, China
R&D Center of Hydrogen Energy Standardization, Yunfu 527300, China
Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components & Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Abstract

A porous ceramic support is designed as a multi-functional independent catalyst layer for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) running on liquid hydrocarbon fuel. The layer consists of a highly porous Ce0.9Ca0.1O2−δ ceramic backbone and active NiMo catalysts, which could be integrated into the conventional Ni metal containing the anode for internal reforming of the hydrocarbon fuel. Compared to conventional catalyst layers sintered on the anodes, this independent catalyst layer could be simply assembled on top of the anode without additional sintering, thereby avoiding the mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficient between the catalyst layer and the anode and improving stability of a single cell. Moreover, a current collector layer could be inserted between the catalyst and the anode to enhance current collection efficiency and electrochemical performance of the single cell. At 750 ℃, the independent catalyst layer displays high activity towards the catalytic decomposition of methanol, and the single cell could achieve the maximum power density of 400–500 mW·cm−2 in dry methanol. Furthermore, by employing the independent catalyst layer, the single cell offers additional in-situ catalyst regeneration capability under the methanol operation mode. Feeding 10 mL·min−1 air into an anode channel for 5 min is found to be effective to burn out carbon species in the catalyst layer, which reduces the degradation rate of the cell voltage by orders of magnitude from 2.6 to 0.024 mV·h−1 during the operation of 360 h in dry methanol. The results demonstrate the significance of the independent catalyst layer design for direct internal reforming methanol fuel cells.

Keywords: methanol, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), independent catalyst layer, NiMo–Ce0.9Ca0.1O2−δ catalyst, internal reforming

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Received: 15 July 2022
Revised: 19 November 2022
Accepted: 20 November 2022
Published: 15 February 2023
Issue date: March 2023

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© The Author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22005051), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Nos. 2019A1515110237 and 2022A1515012001), Young Creative Talents Project of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (No. 2019KQNCX166), and Innovation Research Project of University in Foshan City (No. 2020XCC09). Grateful acknowledgements are extended to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51872047), Key Project Plat Form Programs and Technology Innovation Team Project of Guangdong Provincial Department of Education (Nos. 2019KZDXM039, 2019GCZX002, and 2020KCXTD011), and Guangdong Provincial Key Research and Development Plan (No. 2020B090920001).

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