Abstract
Developing efficient anode catalysts for direct ammonia solid oxide fuel cells (NH3-SOFCs) under intermediate-temperatures is of great importance, in support of hydrogen economy via ammonia utilization. In the present work, the pyrochlore-type La2Zr2−xNixO7+δ (LZNx, x = 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, 0.10) oxides were synthesized as potential anode catalysts of NH3-SOFCs due to the abundant Frankel defect that contributes to the good conductivity and oxygen ion mobility capacity. The effects of different content of Ni2+ doping on the crystal structure, surface morphology, thermal matching with YSZ (Yttria-stabilized zirconia), conductivity, and electrochemical performance of pyrochlore oxides were examined using different characterization techniques. The findings indicate that the LZNx oxide behaves as an n-type semiconductor and exhibits an excellent high-temperature chemical compatibility and thermal matching with the YSZ electrolyte. Furthermore, LZN0.05 exhibits the smallest conductive band potential and bandgap, making it have a higher power density as anode material for NH3-SOFCs compared to other anodes. As a result, the maximum power density of the LZN0.05-40YSZ composite anode reaches 100.86 mW/cm2 at 800 °C, which is 1.8 times greater than that of NiO-based NH3-SOFCs (56.75 mW/cm2) under identical flow rate and temperature conditions. The extended durability indicates that the NH3-SOFCs utilizing the LZN0.05-40YSZ composite anode exhibits a negligible voltage degradation following uninterrupted operation at 800 °C for 100 h.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 22378069, 22278081, and 22308055), the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22221005), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2022YFB4003701 and 2022YFB4002404), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (Grant Nos. 2023J01066 and 2022J05027), the Talent Program of Fuzhou University (Grant No. XRC-22036).
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Yang, S., Gao, Y., Wang, X. et al. Pyrochlore La2Zr2–xNixO7 anodes for direct ammonia solid oxide fuel cells. Front. Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-024-0948-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-024-0948-2