A novel symmetrical SOFC with thin BZCY electrolyte and PBFNCM‐BZCY electrodes for electricity and ethylene co‐production through ethane dehydrogenation

Abstract Ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) is conventionally produced by a high energy‐consumption process based on the steam cracking of ethane (C 2 H 6 ). In contrast, we presented a novel symmetrical solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to co‐produce electricity and C 2 H 4 through C 2 H 6 dehydrogenation. The symmetrical cell contains a thin BaZr 0.1 Ce 0.7 Y 0.2 O 3 (BZCY) electrolyte sandwiched between two thicker (PrBa) 0.95 (Fe 0.7 Ni 0.2 Cu 0.1 ) 1.8 Mo 0.2 O 6‐ δ impregnated BZCY (PBFNCM‐BZCY) electrodes. The as‐synthesized reduced‐PBFNCM (R‐PBFNCM) contained Fe–Ni–Cu alloy particles embedded on a double‐perovskite matrix uniformly, while the electrode showed high oxygen vacancy concentration, electronic conductivity, redox stability, and activity for C 2 H 6 dehydrogenation with improved ethylene selectivity. The symmetrical cell demonstrated a peak power density of 409 mW cm −2 using C 2 H 6 as fuel, accompanying with a C 2 H 6 conversion of 51.2%, a C 2 H 4 selectivity of 92.5%, and a C 2 H 4 yield of 47.4% at 750 °C and 750 mA cm −2 . Despite carbon deposition occurred slowly in the anode, the deposited carbon was removed by simply switching C 2 H 6 and air between electrodes. Consequently, the cell voltage and C 2 H 4 yield recover by 91.4% and 98.1%, respectively, after three switches with an interval of 48 h, suggesting that the symmetrical SOFC is a promising solution for long‐term continuous electricity and C 2 H 4 co‐production by C 2 H 6 dehydrogenation.