A new Gd-promoted nickel catalyst for methane conversion to syngas and as an anode functional layer in a solid oxide fuel cell

The effect of lanthanide promoters on a Ni–Al2O3 catalyst for methane partial oxidation, steam reforming and CO2 reforming at 600–850 °C is systematically investigated. The promoters include La2O3, CeO2, Pr2O3, Sm2O3 and Gd2O3. GdNi–Al2O3 shows comparable catalytic activity to LaNi–Al2O3 and PrNi–Al2O3 but higher activity than CeNi–Al2O3 and SmNi–Al2O3 for all three reactions. The O2-TPO results show that GdNi–Al2O3 possesses the best coke resistance among those tested. It also displays good stability at 850 °C for 300 h. Raman spectroscopy indicates that the addition of lanthanide promoters can reduce the degree of graphitization of the carbon deposited on Ni–Al2O3. The GdNi–Al2O3 is further applied as an anode functional layer in solid-oxide fuel cells operating on methane. The cell yields peak power densities of 1068, 996 and 986 mW cm−2 at 850 °C, respectively, for operating on methane–O2, methane–H2O and methane–CO2 gas mixtures, which is comparable to operating on hydrogen fuel. GdNi–Al2O3 is promising as a highly coking-resistant catalyst layer for solid-oxide fuel cells.

Research highlights▶ Gd-promoted Ni–Al2O3 catalyst presents good coking resistance toward methane. ▶ This catalyst also shows good catalytic activity for methane conversion. ▶ The GdNi–Al2O3 catalyst yields high-quality syngas for chemical synthesis. ▶ The fuel cell with the GdNi–Al2O3 catalyst layer delivers high power output.