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High-Performance Ni/Pt Composite Catalytic Anode with Ultra-Low Pt Loading for Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

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Abstract

In this study, we developed a Ni/Pt bilayer catalytic anode that has high electrochemical activity and significantly reduced Pt loading amount, for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFCs). The Ni/Pt bilayer anodes with various thicknesses of the Pt catalytic active layer were fabricated on yttria-stabilized zirconia substrates via the direct current sputtering technique, and their performances were evaluated for the LT-SOFCs. The optimal thickness of the Pt catalytic layer for the Ni/Pt bilayer was found to be 10 nm based on the results for the fuel cell performance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis. The optimal Pt10/Ni140 anode showed a cell performance and polarization resistance very similar to those of a reference single-phase Pt anode, while having only 7% of the Pt loading amount of the reference Pt anode. For the detailed morphological analysis of the bilayer structure anode, we employed the pull-off delamination process to analyze both the surface and interface morphologies of the bilayer anodes and the interface morphology of the Ni/Pt bilayer anodes after the operating test was analyzed. The results presented herein indicate the suitability of the methodology for the morphological analysis of thin-film bilayer structures and contribute to reduce the cost of membrane electrode assembly fabrication for LT-SOFCs, thus facilitating the commercialization of these systems.

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Acknowledgements

Y. B. K gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (no. 201700000003242) and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2012R1A6A1029029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Convergence Engineering, Hanyang University, 222, Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04736, Republic of Korea

    Yonghyun Lim, Soonwook Hong, Hwichul Yang, Sehoon Hwang & Young-Beom Kim

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea

    Kyung-Lim Jang & Taek-Soo Kim

  3. Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, Republic of Korea

    Young-Beom Kim

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  1. Yonghyun Lim
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Lim, Y., Hong, S., Jang, KL. et al. High-Performance Ni/Pt Composite Catalytic Anode with Ultra-Low Pt Loading for Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 7, 141–150 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-019-00121-5

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