Beycan Ibrahimoglu

Direct Methanol Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

In this study, performance of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was studied with hydrogen and methanol/water vapor fed directly to the anode. MEA was prepared by using scandia-stablized zirconia (SSZ) electrolyte and NiO-SSZ and Sr-doped lanthanum ferrite (LSF) as anode and cathode material. A three dimensional model of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been developed and is used to predict the temperature, fuel concentration distribution across the cell. On the other hand we designed special experimental set up for testing MEA performance. The influence of different operation parameters (temperature, fuel concentration, fuel-air flow rate...) to the MEA performance was examined. The results show the maximum power generation from MEA when fed with methanol and hydrogen. The maximum power output of 1.6 W/cm² was obtained at 750oC with pure hydrogen. When methanol was directly used as fuel the maximum power output was 1.2 W/cm² at same temperature.

Effect of Nano Ion Conductor Infiltration on the Performance of Anode Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

A high performance anode supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is developed by low-cost tape casting, co-sintering and nano-ion conductor infiltration techniques. A mixture of gadolinium and cerium nitrate solution is infiltrated into both anode and cathode layers and fired at a temperature that gadolinium nitrate and cerium nitrate undergoes a solid state reaction and forms nano ion conductor phase in both electrodes. The effect of molar concentrations and firing temperature of nano ion conductor phase on the cell performance are investigated. The measurements show that nano-sized ion conductor infiltration significantly improves the cell performance. The cell provides 1.718 Wcm -2 maximum power density at an operation temperature of 750°C. The high performance is attributed to increase in the oxide ion conductivity and three phase boundaries of both anode and cathode layers by nano ion-conductor infiltration.