New Steam-Enabled Self-Cleaning Mechanism Boosts Fuel Cell Sulfur Tolerance

University of Utah researchers discover a way to engineer catalysts that can actively clean themselves during fuel cell operation.

Published on Mar. 4, 2026

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Researchers at the University of Utah have uncovered a previously unknown steam-enabled self-cleaning mechanism that dramatically improves sulfur tolerance in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes. The findings demonstrate that the addition of the element rhodium (Rh) to nickel-based SOFC anodes leads to the formation of bimetallic nanoparticles that actively resist sulfur poisoning and autonomously regenerate under steam exposure, providing the first direct evidence explaining why Rh-modified SOFC anodes maintain performance under sulfur-contaminated fuels.

Why it matters

Sulfur impurities such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), even at trace levels, rapidly deactivate conventional nickel-based SOFC anodes by forming stable nickel-sulfur (Ni-S) species that physically block the anode's surface. This discovery provides a new design strategy for sulfur-tolerant electrochemical materials, helping make these fuel cells viable for real-world applications involving natural gas, biogas, syngas or other sulfur-containing fuels.

The details

Using a powerful combination of in-situ high-temperature infrared spectroscopy, thermochemical analysis, and electrochemical diagnostics, the researchers show that rhodium fundamentally alters the surface chemistry of the anode. The addition of rhodium weakens Ni-S bonding while simultaneously activating water molecules to generate reactive hydroxyl species that oxidize adsorbed sulfur into volatile sulfur dioxide, which then naturally escapes from the surface. As a result, SOFCs incorporating these Ni-Rh catalyst nanoparticles maintained more than three times higher power output and significantly lower polarization resistance when using fuel with under 100 parts per million H2S contamination, as compared to conventional nickel-based anodes.

  • The study was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 2026.

The players

Chuancheng Duan

An associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Utah and the senior author of the study.

Yue Bao

A graduate student in Duan's Materials Research Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering and the lead author of the study.

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What they’re saying

“This work establishes a new design strategy for sulfur-tolerant electrochemical materials. We show that catalysts can be engineered not just to tolerate sulfur, but to actively clean themselves during operation.”

— Chuancheng Duan, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering (Mirage News)

“Beyond SOFCs, the findings offer broadly transferable insights for high-temperature catalysis, electrochemical energy systems, and fuel-flexible power technologies, particularly in applications involving natural gas, biogas, syngas or other sulfur-containing fuels.”

— Yue Bao, Graduate Student (Mirage News)

What’s next

The researchers plan to further investigate the self-cleaning mechanism and explore ways to scale up the technology for real-world applications.

The takeaway

This discovery provides a promising new approach to developing sulfur-tolerant fuel cells that can autonomously regenerate, overcoming a major barrier to the widespread adoption of these clean energy technologies.