Nickel Impregnated Cerium-Doped Strontium Titanate Fuel Electrode: Direct Carbon Dioxide Electrolysis and Co-Electrolysis

Direct electrolysis of carbon dioxide and co-electrolysis of steam and carbon dioxide offers an efficient and effective method to produce CO or syngas and also utilizes CO2 in a carbon-neutral fuel cycle. Here we report the use of composite fuel electrode containing a Sr0.7Ce0.2TiO3±δ (SCT) and Sm0.20Ce0.80O2-δ (SDC) backbone which has been infiltrated with nickel nitrate and decomposed to form nickel surface decoration on the ceramic scaffold. Maximum cell current during electrolysis at 850◦C was 263 mAcm−2 and 192 mAcm−2 at 1.8V for co-electrolysis and CO2, respectively. The infiltrated nickel particles provided a large surface area and enhanced activity during electrolysis. These findings demonstrate that Ce-doped titanate mixed conductors combined with low volume nickel additions are promising next-generation electrode materials for solid oxide electrolysis cells.