Understanding the Impact of Sintering Temperature on the Properties of Ni-BCZY Composite Anode for Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell Application

Understanding the impact of sintering temperature on the physical and chemical properties of Ni-BaCe0.54Zr0.36Y0.1O3-& delta; (Ni-BCZY) composite anode is worthy of being investigated as this anode is the potential for protonic ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) application. Initially, NiO-BCZY composite powder with 50 wt% of NiO and 50 wt% of BCZY is prepared by the sol-gel method using citric acid as the chelating agent. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates that the optimum calcination temperature of the synthesised powder is 1100 & DEG;C. XRD result shows that the calcined powder exists as a single cubic phase without any secondary phase with the lattice parameter (a) of 4.332 & ANGS;. FESEM analysis confirms that the powder is homogeneous and uniform, with an average particle size of 51 & PLUSMN; 16 nm. The specific surface area of the calcined powder measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique is 6.25 m(2)/g. The thickness, porosity, electrical conductivity and electrochemical performance of the screen-printed anode are measured as a function of sintering temperature (1200-1400 & DEG;C). The thickness of the sintered anodes after the reduction process decreases from 28.95 & mu;m to 26.18 & mu;m and their porosity also decreases from 33.98% to 26.93% when the sintering temperature increases from 1200 & DEG;C to 1400 & DEG;C. The electrical conductivities of the anodes sintered at 1200 & DEG;C, 1300 & DEG;C and 1400 & DEG;C are 443 S/cm, 633 S/cm and 1124 S/cm at 800 & DEG;C, respectively. Electrochemical studies showed that the anode sintered at 1400 & DEG;C shows the lowest area specific resistance (ASR) of 1.165 & OHM; cm(2) under a humidified (3% H2O) gas mixture of H-2 (10%) and N-2 (90%) at 800 & DEG;C. Further improvement of the anode's performance can be achieved by considering the properties of the screen-printing ink used for its preparation.