Abstract
Solid oxide cells (SOCs) have important applications as fuel cells and electrolyzers. The application for storage of renewable electricity is also becoming increasingly relevant; however, it is difficult to meet stringent area-specific resistance (ASR) and long-term stability targets needed to achieve required efficiency and cost. Here we show a new SOC that utilizes a very thin Gd-doped ceria (GDC)/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) bi-layer electrolyte, Ni-YSZ cell support with enhanced porosity, and electrode surface modification using PrOx and GDC nanocatalysts to achieve unprecedented low ASR values < 0.1 Ω cm2, fuel cell power density ∼3 W cm-2, and electrolysis current density ∼4 A cm-2 at 800 °C. Besides this exceptionally high performance, fuel cell and electrolysis life tests suggest very promising stability in fuel cell and steam electrolysis modes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis done using a novel impedance subtraction method shows how rate-limiting electrode processes are impacted by the new SOC materials and design.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 11687-11694 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Materials Chemistry A |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 23 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 21 2020 |
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge research support from the HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials Consortium, established as part of the Energy Materials Network under the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office, under Award Number DE-0008079, and under Award Number DE-0008437. The electrochemical modelling was supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) through the Research Grant N00014-19-1-2135. Microstructural analysis was supported by National Science Foundation grant DMR-1912530. This work made use of the EPIC facility of Northwestern University's NUANCE Center, which has received support from the So and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1121262) at the Materials Research Center; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN. This work made use of the MatCI Facility which receives support from the MRSEC Program (NSF DMR-1720139) of the Materials Research Center at North-western University.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- General Materials Science
