A high-performance ceramic fuel cell with samarium doped ceria–carbonate composite electrolyte at low temperatures

An anode-supported ceramic fuel cell with samarium doped ceria (SDC)–carbonate (Li2CO3–Na2CO3) composite electrolyte was fabricated by a hot-press technique and tested at 450–600 °C. NiO and lithiated NiO were used as the anode and cathode, respectively, with an effective electrode area of 3.14 cm2. An open-circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.04 V and a current density of 0.70 A/cm2 at 0.6 V was achieved with dry hydrogen as fuel and air as oxidant at 500 °C. The stability of the cell has been examined for more than 110 h at different temperatures. The results demonstrated that the cell operated stably at 500–600 °C with excellent performances, e.g., a steady output of about 0.49 W/cm2 at 550 °C for at least 35 h, but it became unstable at 450–475 °C due to the malfunction of composite electrolyte and deactivation of electrodes. The high performances together with potential low costs (both raw materials and fabrication process) make the SDC–carbonate composites a promising electrolyte material for cost-effective ceramic fuel cells that operate at 500-600 °C.