Combustion Synthesis of NiO-YSZ Precursor Nanocomposites for SOFC Anode and Its Characterization

Abstract

In the present work, the mixture of Nickel Oxide-Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (NiO-YSZ) composites of composition, mNiO–(1–m) Zr_0⋅9Y_0⋅1 O_1⋅95 (m = 0⋅4), anode materials was synthesized by combustion process using glycine as fuel and nitrate as oxidizer. The study of prepared nanocomposites has been done by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential thermal analysis-thermo gravimetric analysis (DTA-TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the powder properties. The resultant powder contained YSZ, NiO, Ni and some carbon spices due to excess amount of fuel used. The decomposition temperature of the prepared nanocomposite was investigated on the basis of DTA-TGA analysis. It was found that the average crystallite size of the YSZ and NiO particles lies in nanometer range. A highly porous and complex network structure was determined by SEM microstructures. 

Keywords: Combustion synthesis, FTIR, DTA-TGA, XRD, SEM