Nanocrystalline ceria coatings on solid oxide fuel cell anodes: the role of organic surfactant pretreatments on coating microstructures and sulfur tolerance

• Chieh-Chun Wu,
• Ling Tang and
• Mark R. De Guire

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1712–1724, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.181

• alkyl bromide to a sulfonate functionality. The ceria coatings deposited after the thiol pretreatment, and on anodes with no pretreatment, were continuous and uniform, with thicknesses of 60–170 nm and 100–140 nm, respectively, and those cells exhibited better lifetime performance and sulfur tolerance

• (IV) oxide; microstructure; organic self-assembled monolayers; solid oxide fuel cells; sulfur tolerance; Introduction Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly to electrical energy. Compared to conventional power sources, fuel cells offer higher efficiencies, lower emissions, modular installation

• significantly on the type of pretreatment used. The present research sought to distinguish sulfur tolerance due to replacing YSZ with ceria from that due to protecting Ni from sulfur exposure. Few studies of sulfur poisoning have characterized the microstructural changes associated with the loss of performance