Fabrication and Performance of Impregnated Ni Anodes of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Y 2 O 3 ‐stabilized ZrO 2 (YSZ) and Gd‐doped CeO 2 (GDC) oxide impregnated Ni was investigated and developed as anodes of solid oxide fuel cells. Performance of the Ni anodes for the H 2 oxidation reaction was substantially enhanced after the impregnation of submicrometer (100–300 nm) YSZ and GDC oxide particles. After impregnation of 1.7 mg/cm 2 GDC (∼8.5 vol% GDC), the electrode polarization resistance dropped to 0.71 Ω·cm 2 at 800°C, close to 0.24 Ω·cm 2 reported on good Ni (50 vol%)/YSZ (50 vol%) cermet anodes at the same temperature. The results demonstrated that ion or wet impregnation is an effective process to introduce ionic conducting and catalytic active nano‐sized YSZ and GDC phases into stable and porous Ni electronic network structure without the high temperature sintering process.