Fine interface contact and high activity of nickel-based anode modified by gadolinium for hydrogen and methane fuel

In this work, gadolinium is used to modify nickel catalyst, which can improve the properties of nickel oxide particle and inhibit its sintering and grain growth. Interface contact between nickel catalyst and YSZ is significantly improved and fine anode microstructure can be obtained when gadolinium is used to modify Ni-YSZ anode. Fine interface contact of GdNi-YSZ anode can accelerate charge transfer process and steam formation process, which leads to high activity for electrochemical oxidation of hydrogen and low impedance resistance. The remarkable characteristic of GdNi-YSZ anode cell is that the cell performance for humidified methane fuel is greatly improved due to the high anode activity for methane reforming and electrochemical oxidation of hydrogen. The maximum power density of GdNi-YSZ anode cell with humidified methane as fuel can reach 1.59 W/cm² at 800 °C and 0.46 W/cm² at 650 °C. High performance of GdNi-YSZ anode cell with humidified methane as fuel leads to much H₂O produced during the electrochemical oxidation process, which can depress carbon deposition and improve the cell stability for humidified methane fuel.