Effect of the type of ceria dopant on the performance of Ni/CeO2 SOFC anode for ethanol internal reforming

- The addition of dopant to ceria led to the formation of solid solutions.
- The extent of ceria reduction depended on the type of dopant.
- All catalysts deactivated for ethanol decomposition reaction due to carbon deposition.
- Large Ni0 crystallites formed reduce the effectiveness of carbon removal mechanism.
- The lowest formation of carbon on Ni/CeNb is due to presence of NiNb2O6 phase.

This work studied the effect of the type of ceria dopant on the performance of Ni/CeO2 SOFC anode for ethanol conversion reaction. Ni-based catalysts supported on CeO2 doped with different cations (Gd, Y, Pr, Zr, Nb) were prepared by the hydrothermal method. The addition of dopant to ceria led to the formation of the solid solutions during calcination for all samples, except for CeNb sample due to the low solubility limit. In spite of the high oxygen mobility of ceria-based supports, all catalysts deactivated for ethanol decomposition reaction at 1123 K due to carbon deposition. The large Ni0 and CeO2 crystallites formed during calcination at high temperature reduced the effectiveness of the mechanism of carbon removal because of the low metal-support interfacial area. The lowest formation of carbon on Ni/CeNb catalyst was attributed to the presence of NiNb2O6 phase. The reduction of this phase leads to the formation of Ni particles covered by NbOx species, which inhibits carbon formation.

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