Synthesis of NiO–ZrO2 powders for solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract With NH 3 ·H 2 O, NH 3 ·H 2 O-NH 4 HCO 3 buffer solution and NaOH solution as coprecipitation agents, NiO–ZrO 2 , anode powder of solid oxide fuel cell, was synthesized by coprecipitation methods. Composition accuracy was analyzed by comparing the original composition with the mass of the eventually obtained powder. It was shown that cubic NiO and cubic YSZ with a cascade powder distribution were obtained after the powder was calcined for 1h at different temperatures. Composition analysis of the powder synthesized with NH 3 ·H 2 O as coprecipitation agent showed that NiO–YSZ powder greatly deviated from the original composition due to the loss of Ni 2+ in the form of [Ni(NH 3 ) 4 ] 2+ . When NH 3 ·H 2 O–NH 4 HCO 3 buffer solution was used, productive output of nickel was increased. The loss of nickel can be totally avoided and better control of the powder composition could be realized when NaOH was used as coprecipitation agent.