Development of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells for CO ₂ Utilization at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories

High temperature electrolysis has been studied to co-electrolyse steam and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to produce syngas (mixture of carbon monoxide - CO - and hydrogen - H 2 ). Due to the low temperature operating range (400°C - 700°C) and easier gas separation, proton conducting solid oxide electrolysis cells (H-SOECs) have attracted significant interest in recent years since more conventional and less expensive materials of the manufacturing of the electrolyser and for the construction of plant equipment (e.g., heat exchangers, piping, heaters, etc.) can be used. Oxygen-conducting solid oxide electrolysis cells (O-SOEC), although more mature and developed, required higher temperatures to operate [1]. For the H-SOEC, doped BaZrO 3 -BaCeO 3 mixtures have been reported for round button H-SOECs with small diameters [2]; however, flat planar-type H-SOECs with larger dimensions are neither frequently reported in the literature nor commercially available due to material-related issues such as poor sinter-ability, warping during sintering and insufficient chemical stability during operation. On the other hand, the performance of commercially available O-SOECs have significantly improved over the years; however, there is still a need to further develop materials, and combination of materials, for O-SOECs to operate under electrolysis/co-electrolysis process at an intermediate temperature range with better long-term performance ( i.e ., voltage degradation rate lower than 2.3 %-V/1000 h). Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has extended its hydrogen production program to the production of syngas by utilizing CO 2 from hard-to-abate industries. Currently, CNL is focused on improving the cell performance during steam electrolysis and steam/CO 2 co-electrolysis for both H-SOEC and O-SOEC. A central aspect of this work is to develop durable and scalable electrolyser components (electrodes and electrolytes) by optimizing fabrication parameters such as the formulations of support slurries (either electrolyte or cathode) for tape-casting with suitable sintering aids. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) are used to characterize the prepared materials. Some single cell test results will also be presented under the selected steam/CO 2 co-electrolysis conditions. References Zheng, J. Wang, B. Yu, W. Zhang, J. Chen, J. Qiao and J. Zhang, “A review of high temperature co-electrolysis of H 2 O and CO 2 to produce sustainable fuels using solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs): advanced materials and technology”, Chemical Society Reviews 46 (2017) 1427-1463. D. Medvedev, “Trends in research and development of protonic ceramic electrolysis cells”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44 (2019) 26711-26740.

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