Smart Dual‐Exsolved Self‐Assembled Anode Enables Efficient and Robust Methane‐Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

Abstract Perovskite oxides have emerged as alternative anode materials for hydrocarbon‐fueled solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Nevertheless, the sluggish kinetics for hydrocarbon conversion hinder their commercial applications. Herein, a novel dual‐exsolved self‐assembled anode for CH4‐fueled SOFCs is developed. The designed Ru@Ru‐Sr2Fe1.5Mo0.5O6‐δ(SFM)/Ru‐Gd0.1Ce0.9O2‐δ(GDC) anode exhibits a unique hierarchical structure of nano‐heterointerfaces exsolved on submicron skeletons. As a result, the Ru@Ru‐SFM/Ru‐GDC anode‐based single cell achieves high peak power densities of 1.03 and 0.63 W cm−2 at 800 °C under humidified H2 and CH4, surpassing most reported perovskite‐based anodes. Moreover, this anode demonstrates negligible degradation over 200 h in humidified CH4, indicating high resistance to carbon deposition. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the created metal‐oxide heterointerfaces of Ru@Ru‐SFM and Ru@Ru‐GDC have higher intrinsic activities for CH4 conversion compared to pristine SFM. These findings highlight a viable design of the dual‐exsolved self‐assembled anode for efficient and robust hydrocarbon‐fueled SOFCs.

Keywords

• anodes
• dual‐exsolution
• hydrocarbons
• self‐assembly
• solid oxide fuel cells