Papers by Keyword: Portable Power Source

Abstract: A Ni-modified La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 / Ce0.9Gd0.1O2 catalyst was prepared by incipient wetness. The product thus obtained was calcined at 1100°C for 2 h in static air. After thermal activation, Ni was mainly present as highly dispersed La2NiO4 on the surface of perovskite surface. The thermal reduction at 800 °C caused the occurrence of metallic Ni on the surface. Surface area was determined by BET measurement. The catalyst was used as anode in IT-SOFCs fed with methanol. Studies under steam reforming, partial oxidation and autothermal reforming of methanol were carried out at 800°C. A comparison was made between the performance of SOFCs fed with syngas or methanol. The results with methanol are promising both in terms of energy density as well as suitable performance for portable power sources.

Abstract: Different versions of thermoelectric unicouples composed of p-type Ca3Co4O9 (Co-349) and n-type LaNiO3 (Ni-113) or CaMnO3 (Mn-113) bulk materials were prepared. In the unicouples p- and n-type legs were connected with Ag electrodes using Ag paste including various oxide powders with various ratios. For the Co-349/Ni-113 unicouples, maximum output power (Pmax) reaches 177mW at a hot side temperature (TH) of 1073K and a temperature differential (ΔT) between TH and cold side temperature of 500K at 6wt% of Co-349 powder. On the other hand, the lowest internal resistance (RI) is observed in a Co-349/Mn-113 unicouple prepared using Ag paste including 3wt% of Mn-113 powder. Thermoelectric modules consisting of 8 pairs of oxide legs were fabricated using the same method with the unicouples. The open circuit voltage (VO) and Pmax increase with increasing TH and reach 0.392 V and 0.314 W, and 0.911 V and 0.233 W at a TH of 1273 K in air for the Co-349/Ni-113 and Co-349/Mn-113 modules, respectively.