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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

A redox-reversible A/B-site co-doped BaFeO 3 electrode for direct hydrocarbon solid oxide fuel cells

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can directly convert the chemical energy in fuel to electrical energy with fuel flexibility; however, the conventional nickel-based anodes face great challenges due to coking upon direct oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels and redox instability. Thus, developing new anode materials which can provide high coking resistance as well as redox stability is crucial. In this work, Ba 0.6 La 0.4 Fe 0.8 Mo 0.1 Ni 0.1 O 3-δ (BLFMN) has been synthesized in air using a sol–gel combustion method, resulting in a dual phase consisting of a cubic BLFMN main phase and scheelite BaMoO 4 (BMO 4 ) secondary phase. By heat-treating the BLFMN dual phase in H 2 at 800 °C for 5 h, a metallic nanoparticle-decorated BLFMN triple phase compound comprising cubic BLFMN, cubic BaMoO 3 (BMO 3 ) and in situ exsolved FeNi 3 alloy was obtained. BLFMN was subsequently investigated as an electrode material for La 0.8 Sr 0.2 Ga 0.83 Mg 0.17 O 3-δ (LSGM) electrolyte (300 μm) supported SOFCs. Symmetrical cells using BLFMN as electrodes with the cell configuration of BLFMN//LSGM//BLFMN showed excellent redox reversibility and a peak power density (PPD) of 1.32 W cm -2 at 850 °C when using H 2 as fuel. Single cell with the cell configuration of BLFMN//LSGM//LSCF (La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3-δ ) reached PPD of 1.61 and 0.41 W cm -2 at 850 °C when operating with H 2 and CH 4 fuel, respectively. Moreover, the single cell exhibit excellent stability (over 300 h) upon direct oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels of CH 4 and C 3 H 8 . This study indicates that BLFMN is a promising redox reversible and coking resistant anode for SOFCs.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Effect of Operational Temperature on the Performance and Durability of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) have received great interest due to their highly effective reversibility as power generation and H2 production system without releasing any greenhouse gases into environment. The LSCF electrode exhibits a higher structural and performance stability under both SOFC and SOEC operation due to its mixed ionic and electronic conductivity, and there is no immediate delamination taking place during the initial several hundred hours operation. However, the LSCF based air electrode still presents significant performance degradation (with the increased resistance) over the prolonged operation, such as over 1000 hours of operation under SOFC and SOEC. The influence factors for the cell’s performance and stability need to be optimized to improve the power generation for SOFC and H2 production for SOEC. The effects of operational temperature on the performance and durability for both SOFC and SOEC are electrochemical operation dependent. The performance and performance durability for the first 1500h were currently studied under optimized operational temperature for reversible SOFC/SOEC.

Fan, Yueying [NETL Site Support Contractor, Nation↗
DOE OSTI2022

Leak test for solid oxide fuel cells and solid oxide electrolysis cells

A simple, fast, and economical alcohol penetration method for assessing the solid oxide cell to metal window frame seal in a typical planar design is presented. An alcohol such as ethanol or isopropanol is placed into the cavity of a cell sealed to the window frame. Within 3–5 min, one can determine if the glass seal is hermetic by visual observation along the seal edges on the side of the sealed frame. Cross bubbling and open circuit voltage methods for determining whether the seal failed or cracked at high temperature after final stack firing are also discussed.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Computationally Guided Design of Multiple Impurities Tolerant Cathode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been recognized as promising candidates in the demand of reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, which is one of the solutions to the threat of global warming. It was reported that the direct chemical-to-electrical energy conversion in SOFCs comes with negligible emission of greenhouse gases and up to 60% working efficiency. SOFC has unique advantages over traditional power generation technologies and other types of fuel cells due to the use of relatively inexpensive materials, low sensitivity to poisoning impurities in fuels, relatively high conversion efficiency, and fuel flexibility (like carbon-based fuels). However, during the SOFC operation, the cathode is exposed to intrinsic and extrinsic airborne contaminants at high temperatures (600–900°C), leading to their reaction with electrode materials, irreversible chemical and structural changes, and electrochemical performance degradation. of which CO2, SO2, Cr6+ and H2O are known to be concerns. Thus, developing a comprehensive understanding of the multiple impurities poisoning of SOFC cathodes in the presence of single or multiple impurities is necessary to address the long-term degradation of the SOFC cathode systems at operating conditions. An integrated computational and experimental approach has been utilized in the current work aiming at the comprehensive investigation of the cathode materials under single or multiple impurities poisoning effects, understanding the multiple impurities poisoning mechanism(s), and improving the long-term durability of the SOFC cathodes to develop better performing impurity-tolerant cathode materials. We first examined the agreement between the simulation approach and the experimental observations at various atmospheric and temperature conditions to confirm the reliability of CALPHAD for poisoning simulations in these cathodes. Then, using this approach, we investigated the accelerated testing protocol, which has become the standard method for conducting impurity poisoning experiments involving these cathode materials. We found our simulation approach is able to predict in which systems, i.e., cathode material and treatment environment, the accelerated testing protocols reflect actual operating conditions. Finally, in-depth simulations were done for these three candidate cathodes under different experimental conditions and suggested directions toward alternative cathode materials that have superior impurity tolerance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Direct Utilization of Pure and Denatured Ethanol in Metal Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Metal supported solid oxide fuel cells (MS-SOFC) are integrated with internal reforming catalyst for direct utilization of ethanol to generate electricity. MS-SOFCs are operated up to 500 h at 700°C, with water-ethanol blend fuel using high-purity ethanol and denatured ethanol. Performance and durability with denatured ethanol varies dramatically with the composition of the denaturant. Cells operated with three denatured ethanol fuels containing small amount of methanol, isopropanol, and denatonium benzoate demonstrate similar and relative stable performance after stabilization, suggesting that these fuels are fit for MS-SOFC operation. No or minimum carbon deposits are observed on the high entropy alloy-based reforming catalyst layer. Denatured ethanol containing gasoline and toluene leads to fast degradation. Here, MS-SOFCs are promising for direct utilization of denatured ethanol, offering a path to rapid-start, carbon-neutral operation with widely-available fuels.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Improved cell performance and sulphur tolerance using A-site substituted Sr2Fe1.4Ni0.1Mo0.5O6–δ anodes for solid-oxide fuel cells

Abstract Solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer great promise for producing electricity using a wide variety of fuels such as natural gas, coal gas and gasified carbonaceous solids; however, conventional nickel-based anodes face great challenges due to contaminants in readily available fuels, especially sulphur-containing compounds. Thus, the development of new anode materials that can suppress sulphur poisoning is crucial to the realization of fuel-flexible and cost-effective SOFCs. In this work, La0.1Sr1.9Fe1.4Ni0.1Mo0.5O6–δ (LSFNM) and Pr0.1Sr1.9Fe1.4Ni0.1Mo0.5O6–δ (PSFNM) materials have been synthesized using a sol-gel method in air and investigated as anode materials for SOFCs. Metallic nanoparticle-decorated ceramic anodes were obtained by the reduction of LSFNM and PSFNM in H2 at 850°C, forming a Ruddlesden–Popper oxide with exsolved FeNi3 bimetallic nanoparticles. The electrochemical performance of the Sr2Fe1.4Ni0.1Mo0.5O6–δ ceramic anode was greatly enhanced by La doping of A-sites, resulting in a 44% decrease in the polarization resistance in reducing atmosphere. The maximum power densities of Sr- and Mg-doped LaGaO3 (LSGM) (300 μm) electrolyte-supported single cells with LSFNM as the anode reached 1.371 W cm −2 in H2 and 1.306 W cm–2 in 50 ppm H2S–H2 at 850°C. Meanwhile, PSFNM showed improved sulphur tolerance, which could be fully recovered after six cycles from H2 to 50 ppm H2S–H2 operation. This study indicates that LSFNM and PSFNM are promising high-performance anodes for SOFCs.

Li, Haixia↗
DOE OSTI2022

Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Natural Gas

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are high temperature energy conversion devices that produce electricity efficiently and sustainably. High operating temperatures required for SOFC function endow these devices with many advantages including fuel flexibility and high conversion efficiencies. Fuel flexibility, in particular, distinguishes SOFCs from other types of fuel cells that operate with clean H 2 only, and enables operation with natural gas (NG). LBNL has developed metal supported SOFCs (MS-SOFCs) with unique symmetrical architecture that offer several advantages over state of the art (SoA) ceramic SOFC models including inexpensive materials, rapid start up capability, increased mechanical strength and high tolerance to thermal cycling, Fig 1. These advantages make LBNL MS-SOFCs uniquely suited for fast start-up, portable, and mobile backup generator applications. Specifically motivating this work was a scenario of backup generators fueled by pipeline natural gas delivered from SoCalGas in the event of an electric grid shut down. This project investigates the feasibility of using MS-SOFCs with pre-reformed natural gas as well as direct on-cell reforming of simulated natural gas both with and without sulfur.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reliability of Materials and Components for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Planar stack solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) require seals that must operate reliably under demanding conditions for lifetimes of 40000 hours. This includes temperature fluctuations between 800°C and RT during on and off cycles, thermal stresses, oxidizing environments and chemical degradation to name a few. This comprehensive report provides results from long term testing of two commercially available multicomponent barium alkali silicate glasses: SCN and G6, chosen as sealing candidates. In this scope, the glass seals were deposited on YSZ and Al 2 O 3 substrates simulating electrolytes (Zrbased) and coatings (both zirconia and Al 2 O 3 ). The seal-substrate couples were subjected to 800°C under air and steam+H 2 +N 2 environments up to 40000 hours to test their integrity under real operating conditions. Extensive studies on the effects of exposure have been conducted over the span of testing at various time intervals. Within the context of characterization, mechanical properties such as density, roughness, thermal expansion and glass transition, viscosity and wettability behavior; and microstructural properties such as glass chemistries, defect formation (cracks and pores), phase transformations (devitrification) and glass-interface reactions are investigated. Results and discussions are provided with a focus on the degradation of the properties over long term interrupted testing.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Accelerated test protocols to predict service life and durability of solid oxide fuel cells

Reliable accelerated test protocols are needed for solid oxide fuel cell research to facilitate rapid learning on key durability issues, identify potential modes of failure expeditiously, and eventually predict the calendar lifetime of an electrochemical cell. In this work, solid oxide fuel cells operated at a constant current density were compared to cells undergoing accelerated measurements, which are composed of intermittent current injection to the cell. A general accelerated test profile was developed by cycling a solid oxide fuel cell from open circuit to a predetermined operating current density that is the same as the current density during a steady-state operation, to accelerate the local redox environment. The following parameters were studied: current density, operation temperature, moist level, sintering temperature, cycling current, cycling frequency, and operation time. Up to 1,320,000 cycles were generated in this work. The cell degradation was accelerated by nearly 10 times, suggesting the feasibility of using this protocol for acceleration test to predict life performance and durability of solid oxide fuel cells.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Performance Circuit Pastes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications: Final Technical Report

Using a combination of in-plane electrical conductivity measurements, electrical contact resistance measurements, tensile fracture tests, double shear lap fracture tests, rapid thermal cycling adhesion tests, in situ wetting angle measurements, 3D X-ray tomography, reduction-oxidation (RedOx) cycling, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), Density Functional Theory (DFT) modeling, Molecular Dynamics (MD) modeling, and Phase Field modeling, this project determined that a new brazing technique developed by the PIs (specifically the use of nickel particles to direct the wetting and spreading of molten silver) could be used to produce well-adhered, >97% dense, electrically-conductive circuits, current collectors, and/or electrical contacts on a variety of ceramic and ceramic-coated substrates (specifically lanthanum strontium manganite, yttria stabilized zirconia, sapphire, Cr2O3-passivated stainless steel, and Al2O3-passivated stainless steel). Compared to other silver-based alternatives, Ag:Ni led to less manufacturing defects and was more tolerant of the extreme environments (isothermal high-temperature aging) and occasional abuse (rapid thermal cycling and RedOx cycling) encountered during Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and/or Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell operation. Further, in some situations (such as when to produce Ag:Ni electrical contacts to Al2O3-protected stainless steel) the Ni particles also improved operation by acting as chemical getters that removed electrically-insulating, surface-segregating substrate impurities (i.e. by lowering the contact resistance with the underlying substrate).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Chromate based ceramic anode materials for solid oxide fuel cells

The disclosure relates to solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode materials that comprise various compositions of chromate based oxide materials. These materials offer high conductivity achievable at intermediate and low temperatures and can be used to prepare the anode layer of a SOFC. A method of making a low- or intermediate-temperature SOFC having an anode layer comprising a chromate based oxide material is also provided.

Abdul Jabbar, Mohammed Hussain↗
DOE OSTI2022

DEVELOPMENT OF OIL FREE CENTRIFUGAL BLOWER AS ENABLING TECHNOLOGY FOR SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL ANODE GAS RECYCLING

Broad commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), requires anode offgas recycle blowers (AORB) that are specifically designed for handling the challenging operating conditions presented by the SOFC process gases. Otherwise, they can be susceptible to frequent maintenance, low reliability, and short life. This work presents details of the development and testing of an oil-free, low cost centrifugal AORB based on compliant foil bearing (CFB) technology for support of a 100 kW solid oxide fuel cell power plant. The advantages of this novel technology are discussed, particularly its long life and maintenance-free operation, which are derived from the use of CFBs. Also included are preliminary techno-economic analysis considerations for cost-effective deployment of the technology.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Degradation Comparison of Cyclic and Linear Siloxane Contamination on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Ni-YSZ Anode

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) nickel-yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) anode degradation due to different types of siloxane contamination is investigated. A cyclic structure siloxane, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), and a linear structure siloxane, decamethyltetrasiloxane (L4), are mixed with H 2 +N 2 as the fuel for SOFCs at 750°C. The electrochemical characterization results after stability experiments suggest that the SOFC contaminated with cyclic siloxane, D4, had higher degradation. Pure YSZ pellets with different surface hydroxylation extents were also tested to investigate the D4/L4 adsorption and deposition process. Postmortem SEM/WDS, XRD and Raman analysis all indicate that cyclic siloxane has more deposition than linear siloxane on the anode. Further analysis demonstrates that high adsorption and low desorption rates of cyclic siloxane on YSZ are linked to the degradation. Besides the silicon deposition, SiC and amorphous carbon deposition were also observed from the XRD and Raman analysis.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Temperature Anode Recycle Blower for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, Phase II (Final Report)

Broad commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) requires anode offgas recycle blowers (ARCB) that are specifically designed for handling the challenging operating conditions presented by the SOFC process gases. Otherwise, they can be susceptible to frequent maintenance, low reliability, and short life. This report presents details of a DOE-funded Phase II effort conducted by Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc. (MiTi®) for the development and testing of an oil-free, low cost, high-temperature centrifugal ARCB based on compliant foil bearing (CFB) technology for support of a 100 kW solid oxide fuel cell power plant. This Phase II builds on the results of a successful Phase I development project that resulted in the demonstration of a low TRL-6 prototype, shown in Figure 1. This Phase II final report presents design improvements over the Phase I prototype, presents the assembled test ARCBs, and discusses the advantages of this novel technology, particularly its long life and maintenance-free operation, which are derived from the use of CFBs. Also included are preliminary techno-economic analysis considerations for cost-effective deployment of the technology. The specific objectives of this project, as stated in the statement of program objectives (SOPO) were 1) to follow the methodology of design for manufacturing (or manufacturability) and assembly for implementing improvements identified as part of the Phase I effort with the purpose of reducing cost, enabling mass production, and facilitating the commercialization of a revised ARCB design, and 2) to fabricate four complete ARCB units based on the revised design and demonstrating their performance in both a laboratory setting and in an actual SOFC power plant. Execution of this SOPO would be supported by a number of technical tasks resulting in the fabrication and testing of the prototypes. To this end, MiTi continued the teaming relationship started during Phase I of the program with subcontracting partner FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE), which integrated (under a parallel effort funded by DOE Award DE-FE0026199) a modular 200 kWe SOFC power plant. MiTi and FCE coordinated to ultimately incorporate one of MiTi’s ARCB prototypes into one of the 100 kWe SOFC Modular Power Blocks (MPB) that constitute the core of FCE’s SOFC power plant for in-situ long-duration testing. Additionally, MiTi would explore the scalability and extendibility of the technology to other applications, as well as conduct a basic techno-economic analysis.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Perspective—The Role of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells in Our Carbon-Neutral Future

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) offer the potential for compelling value propositions in stationary and transportation applications through their high efficiency and fuel flexibility—two critical characteristics that will allow them to facilitate our transition to a carbon neutral economy. This paper describes the overall integration synergies that can be realized in hybrid systems comprised of an SOFC and an engine bottom-cycle. The development to date is reviewed, and application-specific value propositions are explored. Finally, the environmental impact of hybrid systems are discussed, and key challenges to overcome are examined for this highly efficient conversion technology to achieve commercial success.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗