Composite powders processed by an advanced mechanical method for the fabrication of cermet anodes of solid oxide fuel cells

Nickel Oxide-Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) composite powders for the fabrication of the cermet anode of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) was produced by an advanced dry mechanical process. The morphology of the Ni-YSZ cermet anode fabricated from NiO-YSZ composite powder could be controlled by the operating conditions of the mechanical process. Highly homogeneous cermet anode with very fine Ni and YSZ grains was obtained by applying the mechanical process. As a result, the Ni-YSZ cermet anode showed exceptional performance at low operating temperatures (less than or equal to800degreesC) for the SOFC. It is evident that the homogeneous Ni and YSZ grain structure in the size of less than several hundred nano-meters has increased the Three Phase Boundary (TPB) length for the electrochemical reaction, which contributed to the performance improvement of the cermet anode.