Cathode material for low temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10059584-B2
Application number	US-201615184425-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2016
Priority date	Jan 8, 2015
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

The present invention relates to a solid oxide (or protonic ceramic) fuel cell, a cathode for a solid oxide (or protonic ceramic) fuel cell, and a method of making the same. More specifically, the cathode for a solid oxide (or protonic ceramic) fuel cell utilizes a phase-pure perovskite structure of the compound BaCo 0.4 Fe 0.4 Zr 0.2−x Y x O 3−δ , where x is between about 0 and about 0.2. The cathode material may then be utilized in a SOFT or a PCFC as either a thin film porous cathode or as nanoparticles infiltrated into a cathode bone having a different structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a solid oxide fuel cell comprising:
depositing a precursor electrolyte layer on at least a portion of an anode layer;
depositing a precursor cathode layer on at least a surface of the precursor electrolyte layer to form a structure; and
heating the structure to between about 1200° C. and about 1600° C. for between about 5 hours and about 25 hours to form the solid oxide fuel cell comprising the anode layer, an electrolyte layer, and a cathode layer comprised of BaCo 0.4 Fe 0.4 Zr 0.2−x Y x O 3−δ , wherein x is greater than 0 and less than 0.2, and wherein δ is between about 0 and about 0.3.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode layer has a thickness of between about 5 microns and about 70 microns.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein x is between about 0 and about 0.2.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anode layer is comprised of at least one of a BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ —Ni, a BaCe 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ —Ni, BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ —Ni, and a BaCe 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ —Ni and the electrolyte layer is comprised of at least one a BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ- 1.0 wt % NiO, a BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % CoO, a BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % CuO, a BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % ZnO, a BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % NiO, a BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.4 wt % CuO, a BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % CoO, a BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % ZnO, a BaCe 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ -1.3 wt % CuO, a BaCe 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ- 1.0 wt % NiO, a BaCe 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % CoO, a BaCeO 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % ZnO, a BaCe 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % CoO, a BaCe 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % NiO, a BaCe 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % ZnO, and a BaCe 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ -1.0 wt % CuO.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode is a porous film cathode.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anode is comprised of at least one of a BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 Yb 0.1 O 3−δ —Ni, a BaCe 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ —Ni, a BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ —Ni, and a BaCe 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3−δ —Ni.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode further comprises a cathode bone with a formula of BaCe 0.6 Zr 0.3 Y 0.1 O 3−δ .

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the BaCo 0.4 Fe 0.4 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 O 3−δ is a plurality of nanoparticles and wherein the plurality of nanoparticles is deposited on at least one wall of the cathode bone.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cathode layer is BaCo 0.4 Fe 0.4 Zr 0.1 Y 0.1 O 3−δ .

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a thickness of the cathode layer is between about 5 and about 70 microns.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein x is greater than 0 and less than 0.15.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein x is 0.1.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a gel or paste of the precursor cathode layer comprises a cathode powder and terpinol.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the cathode powder comprises BSCF, BCFZ, or BCFZY0.1.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sintering the precursor cathode layer at a temperature between about 700° C. and about 1000° C.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the sintering takes between for about 2 hours and about 10 hours.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a material for the precursor cathode layer, comprising:
dissolving a cathode material in ammonia hydroxide to form a gel;
heating the gel to a temperature between about 120° C. and about 180° C., for between about 10 hours and about 36 hours to produce a charcoal;
milling the charcoal to form a milled charcoal; and
calcining the milled charcoal at a temperature between about 400° C. and about 800° C. for between about 3 hours and about 10 hours to produce a calcined powder.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
milling the calcined powder with a solvent for between about 24 hours and about 72 hours to produce a milled powder; and
drying the milled powder at a temperature between about 120° C. and about 250° C., for between about 5 hours and about 10 hours to form the cathode powder.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the solvent is at least one of a n-butanol, an isopropanol, an ethanol, an acetone, a methanol, or a toluene.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the precursor cathode layer is deposited using a method of at least one of a painting, a dipping, a spraying, a screen printing, a spray coating, a tape casing, or a slot dyeing.

Assignees

• Colorado School Of Mines

Inventors

• Tong Jianhua
• O'Hayre Ryan Patrick
• Shang meng
• Duan Chuancheng

Classifications

• H01M2008/1293

  Fuel cells with solid oxide electrolytes · CPC title

• Y02E60/525

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/126

  the electrolyte containing cerium oxide · CPC title

• B82Y30/00 Primary

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• H01M4/9033 Primary

  Complex oxides, optionally doped, of the type M1MeO3, M1 being an alkaline earth metal or a rare earth, Me being a metal, e.g. perovskites · CPC title