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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.

Category

Academic article

Language

English

Author(s)

  • Aleksandra Lysik
  • Tomasz Wejrzanowski
  • Karol Cwieka
  • Jakub Skibinski
  • Jaroslaw Milewski
  • Fernando M.B. Marques
  • Truls Eivind Norby
  • Wen Xing

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Industry / Sustainable Energy Technology
  • Warsaw University of Technology
  • University of Aveiro
  • University of Oslo

Year

2020

Published in

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

ISSN

0360-3199

Volume

45

Issue

38

Page(s)

19847 - 19857

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository