Final Scientific Report

NanoDynamics Inc. has undertaken a study to develop and demonstrate an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell capable of generating a minimum of 20 W per cell on hydrogen. The cell technology will also be assed for operation on renewable hydrocarbon-based fuels such as biomass gas, as well its applicability for larger-scale power production. The project was divided into five sub-tasks, the first of which was the development and refinement of the cell manufacturing processes of gel-casting and paste extrusion for the fabrication of planar and tubular anode supports. These methods exhibited high production yields with excellent reproducibility. Using a conventional YSZ-based cell as a performance benchmark, new materials-sets and cell configurations were developed. Three prototype configurations were implemented, the best generating an average of 10 W per cell, and exhibiting excellent potential for further development and scale-up. Using a variety of techniques such as modifying the materials-set, microstructure, and cell configuration, cells with an average power output of 22.7 W were demonstrated, 13.5% in excess of the 20 W project goal. Thermal cycling was performed on such cells, and it was found that over a regime of 150 cycles (approximately 300 h), the cell power increased by 1.8%. So-called “short-stacks” comprised of up to 6 cells were fabricated to study the feasibility of further stack scale-up. Such a 6-cell short-stacks operated on dry hydrogen exhibited power outputs of 80 W, a 6.4% power increase from their constituent cells, showing that the cells had excellent potential for further scale-up. Optimized Rev A cells were built into a 3-cell stack, and found to produce 63.42 W operating on hydrogen, and 58.18 W on methane. The feasibility of a biogas-fed SOFC was also investigated. Utilizing in-house developed catalysts, methane conversion and hydrogen yield was found to be 98 and 42%, respectively. By incorporating this catalyst material into prototype Rev A cells, long-term stability tests showed that for over 200 h of operation, the cell power increased by approximately 10%. It can be concluded that the technology developed by NanoDynamics during this project exceeded the project goal of 20 W/cell by 13.5%, and exhibits excellent potential for further development and scale-up