UES SERVICES INC — Department of Energy STTR Phase I: 17b

Description

Direct Internal Reforming Solid Oxide Fuel Cells require an anode material with good catalytic reforming and electrochemical reactivity. Although the current state-of-the-art solid oxide fuel cell anode consisting of nickel and yttrium-stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) has excellent catalytic properties and stability for the H2 oxidation at the usual operation conditions, the use of Ni-YSZ anode with carbon containing fuels results in the deposition of large quantities of carbon on the nickel surface, resulting in a marked irreversible reduction of cell performance. Our approach is to replace Ni with a predominantly single phase multi-principal element alloy. Multi-principal element alloys are a new alloy development strategy, where the base alloy has significant atom fractions of several elements. We propose to combine Cu, Fe, Co, Mn, and Ni and to make cermet with YSZ for the anode. In Phase I, we will perform thermodynamic calculations to determine composition ranges for solid-solution CoFeMn, CoCuFeMn and NiCoCuFeMn alloys and fabricate selected alloys for catalytic ability and coking resistance. MPEA-YSZ anode will be fabricated from selected alloys using thin film deposition by cathodic arc evaporation and conventional powder metallurgy routes followed by post annealing on YSZ electrolyte. Symmetric and full cells will be fabricated and tested for electrochemical performance and carbon deposition of the new anode material. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits Solid oxide fuel cells offer a clean technology to generate electricity at high efficiencies; since their efficiencies are not limited the way a conventional heat engine's is. These fuel cells provide many advantages over traditional energy conversion systems including high efficiency, reliability, modularity, fuel adaptability, and very low levels of polluting emissions. This project will enable rapid commercialization of the technology by eliminating some of the drawbacks of the current anode material