Y-doped SrTiO3 based sulfur tolerant anode for solid oxide fuel cells

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode with high sulfur tolerance was developed starting from a Y-doped SrTiO3 (SYTO)-yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) porous electrode backbone, and infiltrated with nano-sized catalytic ceria and Ru. The size of the infiltrated particles on the SYTO-YSZ pore walls was 30-200 nm, and both infiltrated materials improved the performance of the SYTO-YSZ anode significantly. The infiltrated ceria covered most of the surface of the SYTO-YSZ pore walls, while Ru was dispersed as individual nano-particles. The performance and sulfur tolerance of a cathode supported cell with ceria- and Ru-infiltrated SYTO-YSZ anode was examined in humidified H, mixed with H2S. The anode showed high sulfur tolerance in 10-40 ppm H2S, and the cell exhibited a constant maximum power density 470mWcm(-2) at 10 ppm H,S, at 1073 K. At an applied current density 0.5 A cm(-2), the addition of 10ppm H2S to the H-2 fuel dropped the cell voltage slightly, from 0.79 to 0.78V, but completely recovered quickly after the H2S was stopped. The ceria- and Ru-infiltrated SYTO-YSZ anode showed much higher sulfur tolerance than conventional Ni-YSZ anodes. Published by Elsevier B.V.