(337f) Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System with Infiltrated Reforming Catalyst Layer Operating Under Direct Ethanol Feed Configuration

Metal supported solid oxide fuel cell (MS-SOFC) has an advantage over the conventional cermet-based solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) because MS-SOFC can withstand rapid start-up and cool-down without cracking, making it suitable for mobile application. Meanwhile, the cermet-based SOFC is prone to crack from thermal shock due to the low toughness of its ceramic components. Applying a micro-reforming catalyst layer on the anode surface is an effective solution to prevent cell deactivation from coking formation if hydrocarbon or logistic fuels is used to run the SOFC. However, using a separate reforming reactor or adding a physical catalyst layer over the anode will increase the overall system’s volume. Since the anode material is typically introduced on the MS-SOFC using a precursor infiltration method, introducing the reforming catalyst using the same method will keep the system compact.

In this work, we integrate the fuel cell system and reforming catalyst by infiltrating a 5 wt.% Rh/CZ catalyst as an internal reforming catalyst layer on a button MS-SOFC that will run under ethanol steam reforming condition. The catalyst was applied by infiltrating Rh, Ce, and ZrO precursors in the SOFC’s metal support. The reforming catalyst will convert the aqueous ethanol solution into the hydrogen, and CO gas stream as an internal catalytic reforming layer is tested under direct-fed ethanol condition (S/C ratio = 2, 600 °C) for 130 hours. The button cell with the infiltrated 5 wt.% Rh/CZ shows improved maximum current density and excellent stability over the button cell without the catalyst layer. Post-test sample analysis reveals that the cell with the infiltrated catalyst can protect the anode functional layer from coking deposition. The proposed integrated reforming catalyst and MS-SOFC system can be a viable solution for a future electric vehicle with bioethanol fed-SOFC technology.