Microtubular solid oxide fuel cells decorated with gadolinium doped ceria nanoparticles

A simple and feasible method is proposed in this study for the infiltration of gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) into both anode and cathode electrodes of microtubular solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to improve the cell performance. Some crucial infiltration parameters are also systematically optimized according to electrochemical and microstructural investigations along with short-term lifetime tests. The results reveal that the cell performance can be significantly enhanced with nanoparticle GDC decoration. While the reference cell provides only 252.7 mW/cm2 peak power density under hydrogen fuel at 800 °C, the infiltrated cell with the optimized parameters shows 523.0 mW/cm2 maximum power density under the same testing conditions. The noteworthy improvement in the cell performance is found to be as a result of reduced electrode resistances due to increased number of active electrochemical reaction sites resulting from high surface area of nano GDC particles infiltrated as well as GDC being mixed conductor with high ionic conductivity.