Hydrothermal impregnation synthesis of cobalt pentlandite as anode material of HS SOFC.

In the present work, cobalt pentlandite (CoS) is studied as a solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) anode material which is stable in HS-containing fuels and is promising in coal-based SOFCs. CoS is synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method. Uniform and fine CoS particles are deposited on to the YSZ skeleton directly by using hydrothermal impregnation method and adhered to the skeleton closely after heat treating in N. The symmetrical cells are measured in the presence of 50 ppm HS-H to determine the electrochemical performance at intermediate temperatures. The polarization resistance is only 0.3385 Ω cm at 650 °C. It is concluded that CoS exhibits a combination of good electronic conductivity and catalytic activity and has the potential to be used as a sulfur-tolerant anode material of SOFCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]