Performance of the nano-structured Cu-Ni (alloy) -CeO2 anode for solid oxide fuel cells

In this work, copper and nickel oxides (CuO-NiO) powders with various mole ratios were synthesized by the glycine nitrate process (GNP) and the Cu-Ni alloy was obtained by reducing the CuO-NiO powders at 600 °C for 0.75 h. Furthermore, Cu1−xNix (alloy) -CeO2 impregnated YSZ anodes were fabricated by the impregnation method and the optimized anode composition was evaluated. It was found that the optimized mole ratio of Cu:Ni was 5:5, while the weight ratio of Cu-Ni alloy to CeO2 was 3:1. Additionally, impregnated anode with 40 wt % loading of Cu0.5Ni0.5 (alloy)-CeO2 exhibited the best performance and the polarization resistance of such anode was only 0.097, 0.115, 0.145 and 0.212 Ω cm2 at 750, 700, 650 and 600 °C, respectively. Finally, the performance of the optimized anode in methane (CH4) was investigated and the carbon deposition is greatly suppressed compared to the Ni-based anode.