Reduced nickel content and improved stability and performance in ceramic fuel cells

A analysis staff in Korea has developed a ceramic gasoline cell that provides each stability and excessive efficiency whereas lowering the required quantity of catalyst by an element of 20. The appliance vary for ceramic gasoline cells, which have up to now solely been used for large-scale energy technology as a result of difficulties related to frequent start-ups, may be anticipated to increase to new fields, corresponding to electrical autos, robots, and drones.

Dr. Ji-Received Son on the Middle for Vitality Supplies Analysis, by means of joint analysis with Professor Seung Min Han on the Korea Superior Institute of Science and Expertise (KAIST), has developed a brand new expertise that suppresses the deterioration introduced on by the reduction-oxidation cycle, a significant explanation for ceramic fuel cell degradation, by considerably lowering the amount and measurement of the nickel catalyst within the anode utilizing a thin-film expertise.

Ceramic gasoline cells, consultant of high-temperature gasoline cells, typically function at excessive temperatures—800 °C or greater. Due to this fact, cheap catalysts, corresponding to nickel, can be utilized in these cells, versus low-temperature polymer electrolyte gasoline cells, which use costly platinum catalysts. Nickel often contains roughly 40% of the anode quantity of a ceramic gasoline cell. Nonetheless, since nickel agglomerates at excessive temperatures, when the ceramic gasoline cell is uncovered to the oxidation and discount processes which accompany stop-restart cycles, uncontrollable growth happens. This leads to the destruction of the whole ceramic gasoline cell construction. This deadly disadvantage has prevented the technology of energy by ceramic gasoline cells from purposes which require frequent start-ups.

In an effort to beat this, Dr. Ji-Received Son’s staff at KIST developed a brand new idea for an anode which comprises considerably much less nickel, simply 1/20 of a standard ceramic gasoline cell. This lowered quantity of nickel allows the nickel particles within the anode to stay remoted from each other. To compensate for the lowered quantity of the nickel catalyst, the nickel’s floor space is drastically elevated by means of the conclusion of an anode construction the place nickel nanoparticles are evenly distributed all through the ceramic matrix utilizing a thin-film deposition course of. In ceramic gasoline cells utilizing this novel anode, no deterioration or efficiency degradation of the ceramic gasoline cells was noticed, even after greater than 100 reduction-oxidation cycles, as compared with typical ceramic gasoline cells, which failed after fewer than 20 cycles. Furthermore, the ability output of the novel anode ceramic gasoline cells was improved by 1.5 occasions in comparison with typical cells, regardless of the substantial discount of the nickel content material.

Dr. Ji-Received Son mentioned, “Our analysis into the novel anode gasoline cell was systematically performed at each stage, from design to realization and analysis, based mostly on our understanding of reduction-oxidation failure, which is without doubt one of the main causes of the destruction of ceramic gasoline cells.”

Dr. Son mentioned, “The potential to use these ceramic gasoline cells to fields aside from energy vegetation, corresponding to for mobility, is large.”

The analysis outcomes have been printed in Acta Materialia.

Supplied by
Nationwide Analysis Council of Science & Expertise