(PI Neal P. Sullivan, funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)

The most-widely used SOFC-anode material is comprised of a two-phase nickel / yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) cermet formulation. While nickel has high electronic conductivity and exceptional catalytic-reforming activity, it is also known to initiate carbon-deposit formation, and suffer from redox instability. These problems limit the operating windows over which Ni-YSZ anodes can reliably perform. In this project, we develop tubular, nickel-free, multi-phase perovskite anodes for use in SOFCs.

Perovskite anodes show great promise as a replacement for the nickel-YSZ cermet anode materials set. Such next-generation materials must possess specific performance attributes in order to be effective. The anode must have high electronic conductivity across a wide range of temperatures and gas environments. Catalytic-reforming activity must be adequate to internally reform methane and other hydrocarbon fuels and maximize system efficiency. Additionally, these next-generation materials must be chemically stable and compatible with other cell and packaging materials.

Figure 1: High-resolution micrographs of complete tubular SOFC with nickel-free perovskite anode, anode functional layer, electrolyte, and cathode.

Figure 1: High-resolution micrographs of complete tubular SOFC with nickel-free perovskite anode, anode functional layer, electrolyte, and cathode.

Next-Generation Perovskite Anodes for Tubular Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells