Nickel/Doped Ceria Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anodes for Dry Reforming of Methane

In this work, the catalytic performance of Ni supported on ceria doped with Zr, Pr and Nb used as anodes for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operating directly on fuels containing methane and CO2 was studied. The anodes were prepared by a hydrothermal method using a Ni content (14 vol%) lower than that of a conventional SOFC anodes (30 vol%). The materials obtained were characterized by X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analyses. The results showed that the sample containing Zr exhibited the lowest Ni crystallite size, which led to a high initial activity on dry reforming of methane at 1073 K. However, the Ni/CePr catalyst showed the lowest carbon formation. This was attributed to the higher oxygen mobility of CePr support that promotes the carbon removal mechanism.