Studies on synthetic conditions of spray pyrolysis by acids addition for development of highly active Ni-SDC cermet anode

NiO-Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 (SDC) composite particles were synthesized by spray pyrolysis method using the starting solutions containing the components for NiO-SDC and various amounts of nitric acid or acetic acid. It was found that the particles had the smooth surface due to the presence of the dissociated acetic acid in the starting solution and the large specific surface area due to the presence of the nitrate ion in the starting solution. SOFC single cell performance using the composite particles for an anode was examined at the operating temperature of 750 °C to clarify the relationship between particle morphology and cell performance. The NiO-SDC composite particles which had smooth surfaces with large specific surface areas gave reproducibly high SOFC performances. It was considered that the morphologies and the specific surface areas of NiO-SDC composite particles played an important role of realizing a high performance anode.