Abstract:
Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an energy conversion device that directly converts the chemical
energy of biogas/methane (fuels) into electricity. When using biogas/methane as a fuel, the
traditional nickel-based anode is required to improve SOFC performance. While impressive
growth has been made in the development of other anode materials, nickel-based anodes with high
catalytic activity for biogas/methane fuels are still the promising anode for the commercialization
of SOFCs. The nickel, copper, and ceria-based anode have been verified as an effective way to
increase the performance and long-term stability of hydrocarbon-based SOFC. Thus, to improve
the catalytic activity (NiCu)xCe1-xO and NiCu1-xCexO anode materials are synthesized. The
prepared materials are (NiCu)xCe1-xO and NiCu1-xCexO where (x=0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1) using solid state method. The structural analysis is studied through X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD). The average
crystallite size of all materials ≈ 28 nm. The XRD pattern of (NiCu)xCe1-xO and NiCu1-xCexO
describes that oxide materials have multiphase which shows the heterogeneous nature. The XRD
patterns also confirmed that the biogas/methane used as fuel show good results for prepared
samples. The important structural properties of the samples are analyzed using Fourier transform
infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and the data recording range is 4000-500 cm-1
. Raman spectroscopy
detects vibrational, rotational states in a molecular system, capable of analyzing the chemical
composition of materials. The electrical conductivity was measured with a KD2531E low
resistance ohmmeter and the maximum conductivity is obtained 8.43 Scm-1
at temperature 650 ℃.
The activation energy of samples is also calculated. The asymmetrical three layers cells are
fabricated for testing of fuel cell performance in the temperature range of 400-600 ℃
biogas/methane as a fuel. The maximum OCV was obtained 1.52 V at 600 ℃.
