Effects of Pore-Forming Agent on Characterization of NiO/YSZ Porous Anode for SOFC

Abstract:

A comparative study has been carried out on the effects of pore-forming agents on the microstructural characteristics and properties including porosity, microstructures, linear sintering shrinkage and mechanical strength of NiO/yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ). Different pore-forming agents (soluble starch, graphite and activated carbon) were incorporated into NiO/YSZ at various mass mixing ratios (5%, 10% and 15%). The experimental results show that under the condition of same content, sintered samples using activated carbon as pore-forming agent had a higher porosity than that with identical content of the other two kinds of pore-forming agents. Sintered samples with 10.0 wt% activated carbon had a porosity of 35%. Section morphologies show that pores distributed uniformly and connected very well in the anode with activated carbon as pore-forming agent. The mechanical strength of these sintered samples with carbon as pore-forming agent was also higher. With the activated carbon particle size decreasing (from 100 mesh to 320 mesh), the open porosity of porous NiO/YSZ was reduced (from 31.7% to 30.9%). It may be concluded that The activated carbon is the better choice as pore-forming agent for NiO/YSZ anode.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 848)
• Pages: 389-395
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.848.389
• Online since: March 2016
• Authors: Chag Ku Ding, Jing De Zhang, Ya Lei Liu, Jin Yan Gou, Jun Peng Luan
• Keywords: Ni/YSZ Anode, Particle Sizes, Pore-Forming Agents, SOFC

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