Lithium and lanthanum promoted Ni-Al2O3 as an active and highly coking resistant catalyst layer for solid-oxide fuel cells operating on methane

Ni-Al2O3 catalyst is modified with Li2O3, La2O3 and CaO promoters to improve its resistance to coking. These catalysts are used as the materials of the anode catalyst layer in solid-oxide fuel cells operating on methane. Their catalytic activity for the partial oxidation, steam reforming and CO2 reforming of methane at 600–850 °C is investigated. Their catalytic stability and carbon deposition properties are also studied. The LiLaNi-Al2O3 catalyst shows a catalytic activity that is comparable to those of LaNi-Al2O3 and LiNi-Al2O3 catalysts for all three reactions. However, it displays a higher catalytic activity than those of CaLaNi-Al2O3 and CaNi-Al2O3 catalysts. Among the various catalysts, the LiLaNi-Al2O3 catalyst presents the highest catalytic stability. O2-TPO profiles indicate that the modification of the Ni-Al2O3 catalyst with Li and La greatly reduces carbon deposition under pure methane atmosphere. The LiLaNi-Al2O3 catalyst is applied as the anode functional layer of a Ni + ScSZ anode-supported fuel cell. The cell is operated on methane-O2, methane-H2O or methane-CO2 gas mixtures and yields peak power densities of 538, 532 and 529 mW cm−2 at 850 °C, respectively, comparable to that of hydrogen fuel. In sum, the LiLaNi-Al2O3 is highly promising as a highly coking resistant catalyst layer for solid-oxide fuel cells.