NiMo-ceria-zirconia catalytic reforming layer for solid oxide fuel cells running on a gasoline surrogate

This paper describes an application of a NiMo-ceria-zirconia (NiMo-CZ) catalyst as a micro-reforming layer for solid oxide fuel cells running on isooctane (i.e., a gasoline surrogate). The catalyst layer was applied on top of a conventional anode supported single cell with a configuration of Ni-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) anode, YSZ/Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 bi-layer electrolyte and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ cathode. Our findings show that the application of the novel catalyst layer was an effective way to reform the mixture of isooctane and air into H2 and CO, which facilitated the electrochemical oxidation of complex hydrocarbons at the anode. At 750 °C, the single cell with the micro-reforming layer exhibited a low polarization resistance of 1.36 Ω cm2 and a maximum power density of 405 mW cm−2 in the direct feeding condition of an isooctane/air mixture. At the current density of 500 mA cm−2, the cell voltage presented a fairly low degradation rate of 3.0 mV h−1 during a 12 h stability test. The excellent electrochemical performance suggests the high catalytic activity of the NiMo-CZ catalyst layer for reforming isooctane and suppressing degradation of the single cell in the direct feeding of isooctane/air.