The Effect of Coexisting Oxides upon Carbon Formation on Ni Surface

Carbon deposition on Ni anode support causes degradation of cell performance. Using an additive is one of possible solutions to suppress carbon deposition on Ni. In this study, the substrate effect for carbon formation was investigated at 1073 K under CH4/H2O/Ar (S/C = 0.087) using Ni particles dispersed substrate oxides (8YSZ, SrZr0.95Y0.05O3-delta, Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95-delta, Y2O3, TiO2, CeO2). Independent of the substrate oxides, uniform m-sized Ni particles were successfully dispersed on the substrate oxides by heat treatment of Ni thin film under the reducing atmospheres. The Ni surfaces after carbon deposition were observed with FE-SEM. As the results of Ni surface texture observation, the order of suppressive effect for carbon deposition can be estimated qualitatively as follows, CeO2, TiO2 > SrZr0.95Y0.05O3-delta, Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95-delta > 8YSZ, Y2O3.