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Experimental investigation into tungsten carbide thin films as solid oxide fuel cell anodes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2016

Jun Jiang ,
Xiaofei Guan ,
Judith Lattimer ,
Cynthia Friend ,
Atul Verma ,
Masaru Tsuchiya  and
Shriram Ramanathan
Jun Jiang*
Affiliation:
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Xiaofei Guan
Affiliation:
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Judith Lattimer
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Cynthia Friend
Affiliation:
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA; and Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Atul Verma
Affiliation:
SiEnergy Systems LLC, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02110, USA
Masaru Tsuchiya
Affiliation:
SiEnergy Systems LLC, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02110, USA
Shriram Ramanathan
Affiliation:
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA; and School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Refractory carbides possess metal-like electronic and catalytic properties, which make them interesting candidates for anodes in solid oxide fuel cells. However, significant challenges include phase instability due to electrochemical potential gradient driven oxidation. This requires an understanding of both the chemical thermodynamics in operating environments along with direct measurement of the catalytic activity in fuel mixtures. Here, we present an experimental study on nanostructured WC as an anode for solid oxide fuel cells operating at 300–500 °C. This is enabled by combining calculated thermochemical equilibria validated against experiments at the material level and in fuel cell devices combined with flow reactor studies on fuel-selective catalytic activity directly at working anode interfaces. With an optimized anode microstructure and hydrogen–methane fuel mixtures, WC anode-based solid oxide fuel cells are shown to achieve a near-ideal open circuit voltage of 1.1 V at 500 °C.

Keywords

ceramicenergy generationcatalytic
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 31 , Issue 19 , 14 October 2016 , pp. 3050 - 3059
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Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2016 

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References

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