Electrochemical behaviour and sulfur tolerance of VxMo(1−x)Oy as solid oxide fuel cell anode

Vanadium molybdenum oxide system (VxMo(1−x)Oy for x≤0.13) is synthesized through reducing acidified vanadate and molybdate solution at 60 °C by passing hydrogen sulfide gas through the solution. The electrochemical performance of the mixed oxide is tested at various operation temperatures as an anode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) under pure and 50 ppm H2S-containing hydrogen fuel. The highest cell performance of 0.18 W cm−2 peak power is reached at an operation temperature of 750 °C for dry H2. It is found that the addition of 50 ppm H2S to the anode gas causes a 22% decrease in the cell peak power. The loss in the cell performance is attributed to both gas conversion and diffusion. Short-term regeneration tests indicate that 1 h-exposure to sulfur-free gas is insufficient for the reactivation of the cell performance.