A research team led by Kim Won-bae, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Battery Science and Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH, said on the 16th it developed a technology that simultaneously boosts the performance and durability of a solid oxide fuel cell that directly uses ammonia as fuel.
A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an eco-friendly power generation device that converts the chemical energy of fuel into electricity. However, hydrogen, commonly used in SOFCs, must be liquefied at cryogenic temperatures or stored under high pressure, which is costly in expense. In contrast, ammonia is easy to liquefy at room temperature and has high energy density, making storage and transport convenient, and it contains no carbon, so it does not generate carbon dioxide when burned.
The research team designed an SOFC that uses ammonia as fuel by employing barium and iron. Barium, a strongly basic substance, supplies electrons to iron nanoparticles and helps easily strip nitrogen atoms from ammonia. For ammonia to turn into electricity, it must decompose into nitrogen and hydrogen, and barium accelerates the nitrogen-stripping step to speed up the reaction. Barium also stiffens and broadens the electrode lattice structure so that iron nanoparticles can be evenly anchored.
Iron nanoparticles act as a catalyst on the electrode surface, assisting the reaction that converts ammonia into electricity. In addition, barium strengthens the basicity of the surface so reactants decompose more readily on the surface of the iron nanoparticles.
As a result, the barium-introduced electrode recorded a maximum power density about 25% higher than that of the conventional electrode. It also showed excellent durability, maintaining stability without performance degradation during 200 hours of continuous operation, and the ammonia was completely consumed with none left over.
Kim Won-bae said, "This is a result that simultaneously elevates the performance and durability of ammonia fuel cells," adding, "Given ammonia's easy storage and transport characteristics, this technology will become a core enabling technology to realize carbon-zero power generation."
The research findings were published in the Chemical Engineering Journal on 15th (local time).
References
Chemical Engineering Journal (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.168167