Revitalizing interface in protonic ceramic cells by acid etch

Wenjuan Bian^#^{1

2}, Wei Wu^#³, Baoming Wang⁴, Wei Tang^{1

2}, Meng Zhou², Congrui Jin⁵, Hanping Ding¹, Weiwei Fan⁶, Yanhao Dong⁷, Ju Li^{8

9}, Dong Ding¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA.
² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.
³ Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA. wei.wu@inl.gov.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
⁶ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. dongyh@mit.edu.
⁸ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. liju@mit.edu.
⁹ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. liju@mit.edu.
¹⁰ Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA. dong.ding@inl.gov.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 35444323
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04457-y

Revitalizing interface in protonic ceramic cells by acid etch

Wenjuan Bian et al. Nature. 2022 Apr.

. 2022 Apr;604(7906):479-485.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04457-y. Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Authors

Wenjuan Bian^#^{1

2}, Wei Wu^#³, Baoming Wang⁴, Wei Tang^{1

2}, Meng Zhou², Congrui Jin⁵, Hanping Ding¹, Weiwei Fan⁶, Yanhao Dong⁷, Ju Li^{8

9}, Dong Ding¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA.
² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA.
³ Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA. wei.wu@inl.gov.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
⁶ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. dongyh@mit.edu.
⁸ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. liju@mit.edu.
⁹ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. liju@mit.edu.
¹⁰ Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA. dong.ding@inl.gov.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 35444323
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04457-y

Abstract

Protonic ceramic electrochemical cells hold promise for operation below 600 °C (refs. ^1,2). Although the high proton conductivity of the bulk electrolyte has been demonstrated, it cannot be fully used in electrochemical full cells because of unknown causes³. Here we show that these problems arise from poor contacts between the low-temperature processed oxygen electrode-electrolyte interface. We demonstrate that a simple acid treatment can effectively rejuvenate the high-temperature annealed electrolyte surface, resulting in reactive bonding between the oxygen electrode and the electrolyte and improved electrochemical performance and stability. This enables exceptional protonic ceramic fuel-cell performance down to 350 °C, with peak power densities of 1.6 W cm^-2 at 600 °C, 650 mW cm^-2 at 450 °C and 300 mW cm^-2 at 350 °C, as well as stable electrolysis operations with current densities above 3.9 A cm^-2 at 1.4 V and 600 °C. Our work highlights the critical role of interfacial engineering in ceramic electrochemical devices and offers new understanding and practices for sustainable energy infrastructures.

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References

1. Ding, H. et al. Self-sustainable protonic ceramic electrochemical cells using a triple conducting electrode for hydrogen and power production. Nat. Commun. 11, 1907 (2020). - DOI - PubMed - PMC
1. Li, M. et al. Switching of metal–oxygen hybridization for selective CO₂ electrohydrogenation under mild temperature and pressure. Nat. Catal. 4, 274–283 (2021). - DOI
1. Choi, S. et al. Exceptional power density and stability at intermediate temperatures in protonic ceramic fuel cells. Nat. Energy 3, 202–210 (2018). - DOI
1. Duan, C. et al. Highly efficient reversible protonic ceramic electrochemical cells for power generation and fuel production. Nat. Energy 4, 230–240 (2019). - DOI
1. Yang, L. et al. Enhanced sulfur and coking tolerance of a mixed ion conductor for SOFCs: BaZr_0.1Ce_0.7Y_0.2–xYb_xO_3–δ. Science 326, 126–129 (2009). - DOI - PubMed

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Revitalizing interface in protonic ceramic cells by acid etch

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Revitalizing interface in protonic ceramic cells by acid etch

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