bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Development of Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell Using BaZr0.2Yb0.8O3-δ as the Electrolyte
Authors: Kuroha Tomohiro , Yamauchi Kosuke , Mikami Yuichi , Okuyama Yuji 
Published: September 2023

Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells (PCFCs) are attracting attention as next-generation fuel cells that are expected to have lower operating temperatures and higher power generation efficiency than SOFCs. We have reported that BaZr0.8Yb0.2O3-δ does not chemically react with NiO used as a fuel electrode at 1475°C, which is the sintering temperature of the cell, and that the fuel cell can be fabricated by the tape casting method and the fuel electrode and electrolyte co-firing method used in industrial production processes for SOFCs and electronic components. This report describes issues that need to be resolved for the practical application of this cell.
Fuel cells were fabricated by laminating green sheets prepared by the tape casting method and co-firing the electrolyte and fuel electrode together. For the air electrode, La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ and La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ, which are widely used in SOFCs, and newly developed BaZr0.375Yb0.125Co0.5O3-δ were sintered at 900°C to 1000°C. The electrochemical performance of the planar cell was investigated at 600°C under the conditions of a humid fuel gas (i.e., 3% H2O and 97% H2) and humid air (i.e., 3% H2O, 20% O2 and 77% N2). The active area of the planar cell was 0.785 cm2.
To evaluate the durability of each cell, continuous power generation tests were conducted at constant current. The durability test was conducted by generating power for 1000 hours at a constant current that resulted in a voltage of 0.85 V at the start of the test, and durability was evaluated by the rate of voltage drop per 1000 hours. As a result, the voltage reduction rate per 1000 hours for the cell using BaZr0.375Yb0.125Co0.5O3-δ as the air electrode was 7.3%/kh. The results clearly show that one of the most significant issues for practical use is the suppression of the rate of voltage drop. The resistance of the cell before and after the durability test were analyzed by electrochemical impedance method, and the ohmic resistance and electrode resistance increased. EPMA analysis of the cell cross section to investigate the cause of degradation revealed diffusion of Ni from the fuel electrode and Co from the air electrode in the electrolyte. Therefore, in order to further improve durability, there is a need to consider adding an anti-diffusion layer to prevent the diffusion of these elements and developing air electrode materials that do not contain Co.
Commercialization of Ceres SteelCell® Technology for Power Generation and Electrolysis
Authors: Leah Robert , Bone Adam , Hjalmarsson Per , Selcuk Ahmet , Lankin Mike , Rahman Mahfujur , Felix Florence , De Vero Jeffrey , Macauley Chandra , Charbonneau Cecile , Rios Laura , Mukerjee Subhasish , Hargrove Caroline , Selby Mark 
Published: September 2023

Ceres’ unique metal supported SOC technology is increasingly establishing itself as the global standard for SOC, combining robustness, efficiency and low manufacturing cost. The technology is rapidly moving from demonstration to true volume production, with Robert Bosch GmbH in Germany and Doosan Fuel Cell in South Korea both having licenses to manufacture Ceres SteelCell® cells and stacks at the hundreds of MW per year scale with factories under construction. Ceres currently have manufacturing plants making MW of stacks per year. Ceres SteelCell® technology has a wide range of applications in the power generation sector, with applications ranging from small scale <10kWe combined heat and power (CHP) systems to systems in the 100s of kW to MW range. An increasing area of interest for the application of SteelCell® technology is in the difficult-to-decarbonize marine sector, where the ability to operate efficiently on a range of fuels with much lower carbon emissions than the heavy diesel normally used for shipping. These include liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol and liquid ammonia, as well as hydrogen. This is also driving development of higher-power systems in the MW range.
An exciting new development is the application of Ceres SteelCell® technology to steam electrolysis. The inherent advantages of Ceres SteelCell® in terms of mechanical robustness, REDOX stability, low production cost and low-cost balance of plant are also applicable to electrolysis applications. In addition, there are potential thermodynamic advantages for integration of high temperature electrolysis with other industrial processes to utilize waste heat stemming from the lower temperature of operation of Ceres SteelCell® technology relative to competing SOC technologies as lower-grade heat is required. To demonstrate the capability of Ceres SteelCell® for electrolysis Ceres is developing a 1MWe-class steam electrolyzer demonstrator using a modular architecture of multiple smaller electrolysis cell modules (ECMs) which can operate standalone. Testing and validation of ECMs is currently ongoing prior to full system integration. These ECMs are built into a standard 40ft shipping container to form the complete system.
Ceres has recently signed an agreement with Shell to operate one of these 1MW-class systems at Shell’s R&D center in Bangalore, India running for 3 years from 2023. In addition to gaining valuable experience in plant operation the hydrogen generated will be used for industrial processes on the site.
Electrochemical Activity and Stability of Pure Gadolinium Doped Ceria as Fuel Electrode in Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells
Authors: Uecker Jan , Unachukwu Ifeanyichukwu Daniel , Vibhu Vaibhav , Vinke Izaak , Eichel Rudiger-A , de Haart L.G.J. (Bert) 
Published: September 2023

The state-of-the-art fuel electrode materials for solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) are Ni-cermets due to their high electro-catalytic activity, high electrical conductivity and the low price. However, one major concern that must be solved for a widespread commercialisation is their poor degradation behaviour during electrolysis operation caused by for example Ni migration, depletion and agglomeration in the fuel electrode. One strategy to improve the durability of SOECs is the usage of alternative fuel electrode materials. For instance, completely Ni-free fuel electrodes may solve the problems of morphological degradation during operation and further could enhance redox cycling stability. Within possible candidates, gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) is an interesting material due to good stability towards carbon deposition and the possibility to host electro catalysis in electrolysis reactions [1, 2]. Furthermore, GDC (Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-δ) shows electronic conducting (700 °C, 0.028 S·cm-1) and ionic conducting (700 °C, 0.47 S·cm-1) properties at low partial pressures of oxygen and high temperatures [3]. Hence, in this work we have prepared electrolyte supported single cells with GDC (Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-
δ) as single phase fuel electrode for their use as SOEC. The single cells (GDC//8YSZ//GDC//LSCF) were characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and current-voltage characteristics in steam electrolysis, co-electrolysis and CO2 electrolysis conditions exhibiting 70 % of the performance compared to similar produced Ni-GDC fuel electrode single cells at 900 °C [4]. Furthermore, the results include process analysis by EIS, long term stability experiments for steam electrolysis and CO2 electrolysis conditions of at least 1000 hours and post characterization of the degraded cells by EIS, SEM and EDX analysis.
[1] Nakmura et al. Journal of the Electrochemical Society
155 (2008) B563.
[2] Chueh et al. Nature Materials
11 (2012) 155-161.
[3] Maricle et al. Solid State Ionics
52 (1992) 173-182.
[4] Unachukwu et al. Journal of Power Sources
556 (2023) 232436.

Figure 1
A Simple Preparation of Electrolyte Powder for Stoichiometric Electrolyte in Protonic Ceramic Cells
Authors: Kim Junseok , Nahm Sahn , Lee Jong-Ho , Ji Ho-il 
Published: September 2023

Among various eco-friendly energy conversion technologies, solid oxide cells (SOCs) exhibit superior energy conversion efficiency and performance owing to the kinetic and thermodynamic advantages. Recently, protonic ceramic cells (PCCs) have begun to attract attention with expectation that the operating temperature of SOCs can be lowered around 500oC, thereby achieving better durability with maintaining higher conversion efficiency. However, the promising proton conducting electrolytes in PCCs are mostly Ba-containing perovskites exhibiting highly refractory property, thus substantially have challenges associated with barium volatilization during high-temperature sintering process. At the same time, Ni-containing transient phases generated at the electrode and supplied to the electrolyte during sintering of electrode/electrolyte bilayer not only facilitate the sintering of electrolyte, but also induce the compositional change owing to the residue thereof. Such off-stoichiometry indeed degrades the electrical properties, and thus most of all reported performance of PCCs could not fully reflect the intrinsic property of electrolytes.
Here, we describe a simple but effective strategy to realize the highly conductive electrolyte in PCCs via suppression of barium volatilization as well as minimization of supplied amount of transient phases; a low-temperature calcination process. The electrolyte powder calcined at the relatively lower temperature, which is high enough to react all the precursors without residue, but low enough to suppress the Ba volatilization. The PCCs fabricated using this low-temperature calcined electrolyte powder shows the reduced ohmic resistance, and in turn, enhanced electrochemical performance. While the research on PCCs, up to now, have mainly been focused on processing technique or new materials for the better performance, the result of this study implies that the status of initial electrolyte powder can significantly influence the overall cell characteristics.
Ni / GDC Fuel Electrode for Low Temperature SOFC and its Aging Behavior under Accelerated Stress
Authors: Liu Yanting , Juckel Martin , Menzler Norbert H. , Weber Andre 
Published: September 2023

For the increase of the number of the potential applications of SOCs as well as a lower system cost, realization of operating at lower temperatures (< 650 °C) is a key point. However, the overall cell performance would decrease dramatically with reduction in temperature because of reducing ionic conductivity in electrolyte and increased polarization resistance from both electrodes. In case of realizing high performance yet also good mechanical stability, wet infiltration is shown to be one effective method [1].
In this contribution, the concept of infiltration is presented with a GDC infiltrated Ni-Skeleton fuel electrode. With this approach, a polarization resistance of below 0.2 Ω cm² at 600 °C is realized. To study the durability of such electrode, the concept of accelerated testing is applied. Symmetrical cells are tested to avoid an additional impact of the air electrode [2]. The cells are operated at temperatures up to 900 °C and a high steam content of 50 % for up to 1000 h. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is employed to record the temporal development of the electrode performance. By means of the distribution of relaxation times (DRT), the temporal evolution of the loss processes is identified. As an example, impedance and DRT at 600 °C before and after aging at 900 °C for 650 h is presented in Figure 1(c). Microstructural analysis of electrode in different aging status is carried out with optical- and electron microscopy. The initially nanoscaled microstructure of the infiltrated GDC, as presented in Figure 1(a), is agglomerated (Figure 1(b)) during aging at elevated temperatures, which is in agreement with the observed increase in polarization resistance.
Keywords
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell; low temperature; porous electrodes; accelerated life time test; aging phenomenon; GDC; SEM
[1] Z. Liu.et al., J. Power
Sources, 237, p. 243 (2013)
[2] C. Endler-Schuck.et al., J. Power Sources, 196 (17), p. 7257 (2011).
[3] S. Dierickx.et al., Electrochim
ica
Acta, 355, p. 136764 (2020).
[4] A. Weber, tm - Technisches Messen, 88 (1), p. 1 (2021).
[5] C. Grosselindemann.et al., ECS Trans., 103 (1), p. 1375 (2021).

Figure 1
Additive Manufacturing of Single-Layer Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells
Authors: Asghar Muhammad Imran , Lund Peter D. 
Published: September 2023

Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) or proton conducting solid oxide fuel cells (p-SOFCs) have been emerging as a potential low-temperature (400-600oC) fuel cell technology. Generally, the proton conducting ceramic electrolyte materials have a lower activation energy (< 50 eV) and lower electronic conductivity than the conventional oxygen-ion conducting ceramic materials, which are beneficial for improving the fuel cell efficiency and the power output. The additive manufacturing has the potential to transform the manufacturing of PCFCs since it can fabricate both the dense and porous structures with good mechanical and electrochemical properties. In this work, we fabricated single-layer PCFCs through a hybrid of extrusion-based 3D printing utilizing BaZr0.3Ce0.5Y0.15O3-δ and BaZr0.4Ce0.4Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ as electrolytes, their composite with NiO as anode, and their composite with BaCo0.4Fe0.4Zr0.1Y0.1O3-δ and Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ as cathode. The rheological properties of the printable pastes were investigated in detail with the dynamic light scattering, viscometer, tensiometry, differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetric analysis. Furthermore, the cells are characterized with current-voltage measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In addition, other spectroscopic and microscopic measurements (HR-TEM-EELS, SEM-EDX, XPS) were conducted to better understand the mechanisms in the cells. A systematic study was conducted to optimize the sintering temperature for optimal fuel cell performance. Finally, the degradation mechanisms in the cells were investigated in order to improve their stability.
Dr. Asghar thanks Academy of Finland (Grant No. 13322738, 13329016, 13352669) for the financial support.

Figure 1
BaCo0.4Fe0.4Zr0.1Y0.1O3-Σ Cathode Performance for Proton Conducting Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with BaZr0.8-XCexY0.1Yb0.1O3-Δ Electrolytes
Authors: Li Wenhao , Sozal Md Shariful Islam , Drozd Vadym , Durygin Andriy , Cheng Zhe 
Published: September 2023

BaCo0.4Fe0.4Zr0.1Y0.1O3-σ (BCFZY) is a proton, oxygen-ion, and electron-hole triple conducting cathode material for solid oxide fuel cells. Its electrode reaction mechanism including the rate-limiting step in air with moisture are not well understood. Therefore, we fabricated three types of symmetric cells with the same BCFZY cathode over three related proton conducting electrolytes: BaZr0.8-xCexY0.1Yb0.1O3-δ (x = 0.1, 0.4, and 0.7; Fig.1 are SEM images showing the surface of three different electrolytes). The cathode shows different electrochemical behaviors for the three electrochemical cells including the response to the introduction of moisture. The differences are hypothesized to relate to mutual diffusion at the cathode/electrolyte interface, which are tested by various techniques such as XRD Rietveld refinement of BCFZY cathode in mixtures with different electrolytes after firing, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for oxygen vacancy concentration and hydration behavior, electrical conductivity relaxation (ECR) for conductivity changes between dry and moist atmosphere, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) line scanning for element concentration distribution at the cathode/electrolyte interface.
Fig1. SEM images of electrolytes (a) BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ (Ce-rich), (b) BaZr0.4Ce0.4Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ (ZrCe-bal) and (c) BaZr0.7Ce0.1Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ (Zr-rich)

Figure 1
Three-Dimensional Microstructural Analysis for the Characterization of Failure Mechanisms of a Novel SOEC
Authors: Wehner Luzie , Lenser Christian , Dzieciol Krzysztof , Wessel Egbert , Malzbender Jürgen , Schwaiger Ruth 
Published: September 2023

A novel Ni-GDC-cermet-supported intermediate temperature electrolysis cell that has been developed as promising candidate for hydrogen production with GDC as electrolyte, YSZ as electron-blocking layer and an additional GDC diffusion-blocking layer is characterized.
Although this three-layer GDC-YSZ-GDC electrolyte enables improved performance compared to state-of-the-art YSZ electrolyte-based cells especially at lower operation temperatures, at temperatures below 750 °C and high electrolysis currents a voltage drop and subsequently crack formation in the three-layer electrolyte was observed in initial studies.
Thus, in order to investigate the cause of this catastrophic cell failure a three-dimensional microstructural analysis of the cathode functional layer and electrolyte was conducted. Different methods were used to obtain detailed information on the microstructure and changes thereof. The methods used were FIB-SEM, X-ray computed tomography and laser confocal microscopy. By combining the results obtained from the different methods, a detailed understanding of the electrolyte/electrode microstructure was achieved. The analysis of a representative volume element via non-destructive X-ray computed tomography and FIB-SEM enabled the reconstruction of the microstructure and segmentation into a three-dimensional material distribution. Three-dimensional microstructures of cells before and after single-cell testing were analysed and compared. Additionally, laser confocal microscopy was used for a direct assessment of cracks and other defects. An overview of the advantages of the different characterization methods and findings will be given.
Development of Multiple Ceramic Coatings on Porous Tubular Metal Support
Authors: Sahu Sulata Kumari , Panthi Dhruba , Du Yanhai 
Published: September 2023

Micro-tubular metal supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (MS-SOFC) has many advantages over traditional ceramic supported SOFC, such as greater mechanical robustness, better thermal and redox cycling along with low cost of starting material. Among the multiple MS-SOFC fabrication methods, the one involving sequential dip-coating followed by co-sintering has the potential to reduce the fabrication cost further, making it attractive from a commercial production standpoint. However, the co-sintering route is challenging because it requires constrained sintering conditions, high temperatures, and inert atmosphere. Other challenges with the co-sintering route are delamination and cracking of layers, warping of cell, diffusion of Fe and Cr away from metal support, diffusion of Ni from anode, coarsening of Ni in the anode, and lack of complete densification of YSZ electrolyte even at temperatures as high as 1350 °C.
In this work, we developed a new ceramic multilayer design on a porous tubular 3D-printed metal support. Scandia Stabilized Zirconia (SSZ) and, Ni and SSZ (Ni-SSZ cermet) were used as electrolyte and anode, respectively. Stainless steel 17-4 PH was identified as the metal support material due to its matching coefficient of thermal expansion with SOFC ceramic materials, low cost and corrosion resistance nature. The dip coating steps and the co-sintering process were optimized so that they could be adopted for a cost-effective fabrication of MS-SOFC. The binder-burnout step was optimized to prevent cracking of the multilayers during the co-sintering process. To avoid delamination and to impede the inter-diffusion of elements, a coating of an intermediate layer made of 17-4 PH stainless steel+Ni+YSZ was introduced between the metal support and the succeeding layers. Preliminary results suggest that the intermediate layer has a potential to prevent delamination and inter-diffusion. Introduction of the debinding step and optimized sintering profiles resulted in the formation of the uniform and dense electrolyte coating. However, certain cell warping was observed after electrolyte sintering, suggesting further improvement is still needed in the support design and ceramic processing.
Characterization of Sr2Fe1,5Mo0,5O6-δ Based Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells
Authors: Salvan Laur Kristjan , Lust Enn , Nurk Gunnar , Möller Priit 
Published: September 2023

Hydrogen electrodes of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) are typically made of Ni-YSZ cermet. Despite having excellent catalytic activity Ni-based electrodes suffer from poor redox stability and Ni volatility [1]. Sr2Fe1,5Mo0,5O6-δ (SFM) mixed ionic- and electric conducting (MIEC) double perovskite has been proposed as promising hydrogen electrode material for solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) because of its excellent catalytic properties and good conductivity. In this study SOEC single cells were prepared using SFM hydrogen electrode and (La0,6Sr0,4)0,99Co0,96Ti0,04O3-δ (LSCT) as well as (La0.6Sr0.4)0.95Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF) air electrodes [2, 3].
Studied cells were prepared using 19 mm 10Sc1CeSZ electrolyte substrates. Screen printed 6 μm thick Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (GDC) layer was applied to both sides of the cell to prevent formation of insulating SrZrO3 layer. GDC layer was sintered to the electrolyte at 1300°C for 5h. SFM or 50%SFM/50%GDC electrode layer with 0,52cm2 surface area was screen printed to the GDC layer and was sintered at 1200°C and at 1150°C to optimize electrode composition and thermal treatment program of electrode. Afterwards LSCT or LSCF oxygen electrodes were screen printed to the other side of the cell and sintered at 1100°C for 2 h. Finally, cells were characterized using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and time-of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS).
Impedance spectroscopy analysis showed that cells with 50%SFM/50%GDC hydrogen electrode sintered at 1150°C and LSCT oxygen electrode had highest current densities, reaching 1,59 A/cm2 at 1,5V and 850°C with 67,5% water in hydrogen electrode compartment. However, stability of the cells needs to be further investigated. With TOF-SIMS analysis it became apparent that Sr is moving through GDC intermediate layer and poorly conducting phases are formed in the GDC/10Sc1CeSZ boundary.
[1] C. Singhal, K. Kendall (Eds.), High-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: Fundamentals, Design and Applications, Elsevier, Oxford, 2003.
[2]Bernadet, C. Moncasi, M. Torell, A. Tarancon, High-performing electrolyte-supported symmetrical solid oxide electrolysis cells operating under steamelectrolysis and co-electrolysis modes, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 45 (2020)14208–14217
[3]Sanna, W. Zhang, P. Costamagna, P. HoltappelsSynthesis and electrochemical characterization of electrospun nanofiber cathodes for intermediate- temperature solid oxide fuel cells Int. J. Hydrog. Energy (2020), pp. 1-14