Edinburgh Napier University

  A study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of cellulose as a pore former in the manufacture of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) anodes using Electroless Co-Deposition (ECD). Previous work into the use of ECD to produce SOFC anodes has found that the lack of porosity restricted the maximum power density of the cell. Studies have also shown that an anode produced by ECD using rice starch as a pore former has nearly doubled the power density of a cell. Therefore by increasing the anode porosity, the cell's power density should also increase and lead to greater performance of SOFCs for the power generation market. As the choice of pore former is closely related to the size and shape of pores produced, a whisker pore former will produce a more cylindrical pore once removed. These cylindrical pores will increase the chances of producing an interconnected pore network compared with more spherical pores, and will improve the gas diffusion through the anode. Therefore cellulose whiskers were used to not only improve the porosity of the anode but improve the gas diffusion capabilities throughout the electrode. Coatings were produced using ECD with different types of cellulose added to act as a pore former using a constant bath loading. A range of 4 cellulose pore formers were selected to reflect different morphologies and sizes available. A fifth coating was also produced using the same methods but, without pore formers, to act as a comparison and determine any improvement produced by the addition of cellulose as a pore former. The coatings were characterized using and a Scanning Electron Microscope with Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy capabilities. This was used to determine the pore structure which had been produced via a cross sectional analysis. A mercury porosimeter was used to determine the pore content and size in the ECD coatings.