Efficient ceramic anodes infiltrated with binary and ternary electrocatalysts for SOFCs operating at low temperatures

Electrocatalyst precursor of various combinations: Pt, Ru, Pd, Ni and Gd-doped CeO2 (CGO) were infiltrated into a porous Sr0.94Ti0.9Nb0.1O3 (STN) backbone, to study the electrode performance of infiltrated ceramic anodes at low temperature ranges of 400–600 °C. The performance of the binary electrocatalyst infiltrated ceramic backbones are Pt–CGO>Ru–CGO>Pd–CGO>Ni–CGO. Ternary electrocatalyst of Ni–Pd–CGO and Ni–Pt–CGO showed the lowest polarization resistance of 0.31 and 0.11 Ωcm2, respectively at 600 °C in H2/3% H2O. The average particle size of the ternary electrocatalyst was larger than the binary Pd–CGO and Pt–CGO due to the particle coarsening of Ni nanoparticles. High resolution transmission electron microscopic analysis on the best performing Ni–Pt–CGO electrocatalyst infiltrated anode reveals the formation of Ni–Pt nanocrystalline alloy and a homogenous distribution of nanoparticles on STN backbone.