Development and investigation of a porous metal-ceramic substrate for solid oxide fuel cells

The process of creating a porous metal-ceramic material based on Ni-Al alloy and gadolinium-doped cerium oxide (CGO) using the thermal explosion method has been investigated. This study aims to analyze the effect of CGO on the thermal explosion parameters and the architecture of the resulting Ni-Al-CGO materials. In this regard, the influence of adding CGO powder to the Ni-Al system on the synthesis process and structure formation during controlled heat loss thermal explosion has been studied. Dependencies of temperature and time characteristics of the thermal explosion on initial parameters have been measured. It has been demonstrated that the concentration of CGO in the initial mixture and heat dissipation from the sample significantly affect the rate of the exothermic reaction. The phase composition of the obtained porous materials, depending on the CGO content and the temperature of subsequent vacuum annealing, was analyzed using X-ray diffraction. The chemical composition and microstructure of the synthesis products were examined through electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The possibility of forming metal-ceramic composites with a porosity of 60-65% for use as supporting substrates for solid oxide fuel cells with a NiO/CGO anode has been shown. An anodic layer of NiO/CGO was applied to a metal-ceramic base of the composition (Ni+25%Al)+5%CGO using screen printing, which was then annealed in an air atmosphere at 1300°C and reduced at 900°C in a hydrogen atmosphere. The dilatometric method determined that adding 40 wt.% Cr to a mixture of Ni-Al powders reduces the average coefficient of thermal expansion of the new material.