The Development of Nano-Composite Electrodes for Solid Oxide Electrolyzers

Gorte, Raymond J. ; Vohs, John M.

关键词: Solid oxide fuel cells;    electrolyzers;    CO2 electrolysis;    perovskites;    catalysis;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1124583
RP-ID  :  DE-Penn-15721
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1124583

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and electrolyzers (SOE) offer an attractive means for converting between electrical and chemical energy. Because they operate at high temperatures and are usually based on electrolytes that are oxygen-ion conducting ceramics, such as yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), they are equally capable of converting between CO and CO2 as between H2 and H2O. When operated in the SOFC mode, they are able to operate on hydrocarbon fuels so long as there are no materials within the anode that can catalyze carbon formation. Compared to other types of electrolyzers, SOE can exhibit the highest efficiencies because the theoretical Nernst potential is lower at high temperatures and because the electrode overpotentials in SOE tend to be much lower. Finally, pure H2 can be produced without an external electrical source by electrolysis of steam at one electrode and oxidation of any fuel at the other electrode through a process known as Natural-Gas Assisted Steam Electrolysis. This final report describes results from studies of novel electrodes for SOE and SOFC prepared by infiltration methods.