Title: Systematic studies on NI-YSZ anode material for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFCs) applications

Authors: Gukan Rajaram, Salil Desai, Zhigang Xu, Devdas M. Pai, Jagannathan Sankar

Addresses: Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS), North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS), North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS), North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS), North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS), North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA

Abstract: The characteristics of the Ni/YSZ anode material for the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) were investigated in order to study the relation between the porosity and the conductivity of the cell. The experiments were planned based on a response surface design (central composite design matrix). Porosity and conductivity measurements were performed on the sintered and reduced anode material. The results indicated that the porosity values got decreased by increasing sintering temperature values, while the conductivity values increase with increasing temperature. Higher sintering temperature helped in forming a better Ni-network along the structure, which improved the electrical conductivity of the Ni-YSZ anode cermet.

Keywords: solid oxide fuel cells; SOFCs; anode optimisation; electrical conductivity; porosity; nanoparticulates, percolation; response surface methodology; RSM; sintering temperature.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMR.2008.019215

International Journal of Manufacturing Research, 2008 Vol.3 No.3, pp.350 - 359

Published online: 02 Jul 2008 *

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