Morphological control of electroless plated Ni anodes: Influence on fuel cell performance

作者：Dal Grande Francesco; Thursfield Alan; Metcalfe Ian S^*

来源：Solid State Ionics, 2008, 179(35-36): 2042-2046.

DOI：10.1016/j.ssi.2008.06.022

• Solid oxide fuel cells
• Ni-YSZ anode
• Ni electroless plating
• YSZ sintering

The suitability of nickel electroless plating for anode deposition on electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on yttrium-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) has been studied. A deposition technique was developed and characterisation is presented with respect to microstructure, strength and performance of the resultant anode. The study was carried out on YSZ disk-shaped pellets sintered at different temperatures ranging from 1000 degrees C to 1400 degrees C with analysis of the influence of sintering temperature on the Ni-YSZ interface microstructure and fuel cell performance. Lower pre-sintering temperature resulted in higher Ni penetration into the YSZ matrix, forming a graded anode and improving the anode-electrolyte interfacial strength. The optimised electrode showed good mechanical stability under redox cycling which resulted in an enhancement of electrode porosity. Complete fuel cells were tested at 800 degrees C with 5% H(2) and air after a porous La(0.2)Sr(0.8)Co(0.8)Fe(0.2)O(3-delta) (LSCF) cathode layer had been deposited by slurry coating. The higher Ni penetration on YSZ substrates pre-sintered at low temperature resulted in an improvement of one order of magnitude of power output compared to a cell in which a metal Ni anode was coated over a fully dense (i.e. high pre-sintering temperature) electrolyte surface.

• 出版日期2008-10-31