Carbon Tolerant Fuel Electrodes for Reversible Sofc Operating on Carbon Dioxide

¹ CPERI/CERTH, 6 th klm Charilaou-Thermi Rd., GR 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
² CMR Prototech, Fantoftvegen 38, 5072 Bergen, Norway
³ European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), The Netherlands

Email: papazisi@cperi.certh.gr
Email: ivar.warnhus@prototech.no
Email: Max.Schautz@esa.int

Abstract

A challenging barrier for the broad, successful implementation of Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (RSOFC) technology for Mars application utilizing CO₂ from the Martian atmosphere as primary reactant, remains the long term stability by the effective control and minimization of degradation resulting from carbon built up. The perovskitic type oxide material La_0.75Sr_0.25Cr_0.9Fe_0.1O_3-δ (LSCF) has been developed and studied for its performance and tolerance to carbon deposition, employed as bi-functional fuel electrode in a Reversible SOFC operating on the CO₂ cycle (Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell/SOEC: CO₂ electrolysis, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell/SOFC: power generation through the electrochemical reaction of CO and oxygen). A commercial state-of-the-art NiO-YSZ (8% mol Y₂O₃ stabilized ZrO₂) cermet was used as reference material. CO₂ electrolysis and fuel cell operation in 70% CO/CO₂ were studied in the temperature range of 900-1000°C. YSZ was used as electrolyte while LSM-YSZ/LSM (La_0.2Sr_0.8MnO₃) as oxygen electrode. Results showed that LSCF had high and stable performance under RSOFC operation.