Nickel-based anode with microstructured molybdenum dioxide internal reformer for liquid hydrocarbon-fueled solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract The present paper describes the fabrication of a bilayer structured solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Its anode consists of molybdenum dioxide (MoO 2 )-based internal micro-reformer in the form of a porous thin film deposited over conventional Ni/YSZ cermet. Cell performance was measured by directly feeding a mixture of n -dodecane and air at different O 2 /C ratios to the anode at 750 °C. Our findings show that the bilayer structured SOFC operating at an O 2 /C ratio of 0.64 led to the highest initial cell performance with an initial maximum power density >4.0 W cm −2 . At a constant voltage of 0.7 V and O 2 /C ratio of 0.64, the bilayer structured SOFC showed a gradual increase in power density output over the first 2 h, followed by a stable output of 3.6 W cm −2 for the next 10 h. The tested cell showed no indication of coking and phase transformation. When a conventional Ni-based SOFC without the internal micro-reformer was operated under similar conditions, its initial performance and long-term stability were found to be significantly lower than that of bilayer structured SOFC due to Ni oxidation under high O 2 /C ratio or coking under the low O 2 /C ratio. These results open up new opportunities for efficiently generating electrical power from various types of high energy density liquid fuels using SOFCs with an integrated MoO 2 micro- reformer.