Silver coated cathode for molten carbonate fuel cells

abstract

Within this study, a layered cathode for use in a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) has been developed. The substrate layer and reference MCFC cathode made of porous nickel was covered by a porous silver film with defined porosity and pore size. Both layers were fabricated using the tape casting method and further fired in a reductive atmosphere. The new cathode was assembled with other reference cell components to form a single MCFC, which was subjected to performance and durability tests. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the microstructure of the materials before and after tests. The reference cathode was also studied for the comparison. The results show that the porous silver layer was able to enhance the electron transport between the cathode and current collector. It was also found that oxygen reduction is enhanced due to the presence of silver in the gas supply. As a result, the power density of the cell was increased by 50%. On the other hand, due to the separation from electrolyte by the NiO layer, no significant degradation of the silver layer, identified by SEM or electrochemical tests, was found after 1000 h. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

keywords

TRIPLE PHASE-BOUNDARY; OPEN-POROUS MATERIALS; OXYGEN REDUCTION; NIO CATHODE; ELECTROCHEMICAL PERFORMANCE; COMPOSITE CATHODES; SURFACE-AREA; PORE-SIZE; MCFC; ELECTRODE

subject category

Chemistry; Electrochemistry; Energy & Fuels

authors

Lysik, A; Wejrzanowski, T; Cwieka, K; Skibinski, J; Milewski, J; Marques, FMB; Norby, T; Xing, W

our authors

acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Science Centre Poland in the framework of the OPUS research project (Grant No. 2017/27/B/ST8/02763) and the National Centre for Research and Development under contract No. M-ERA.NET2/2016/04/2017.

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