Electrochemical investigations of cobalt-free perovskite cathode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell. (13th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Javed, Muhammad Sufyan; Shaheen, Nusrat; Idrees, Asim; Hu, Chenguo; Raza, Rizwan
• Is Part Of: International journal of hydrogen energy. Volume 42:Number 15(2017)
• Page Start: 10416
• Page End: 10422
• Publication Date: 2017-04-13
• Subjects: Cathode -- Perovskite -- Natural gas -- Thermal expansion -- Area specific resistance; Hydrogen as fuel -- Periodicals; Hydrogène (Combustible) -- Périodiques; Hydrogen as fuel; Periodicals; 665.81
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.02.045
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-3199

Abstract

Abstract: A novel cobalt-free perovskite zinc-doped lanthanum strontium iron oxide (La0.8 Sr0.2 Znx Fe1−x O3−δ, LSZF, x = 0.1–0.3) is synthesized and evaluated as cathode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) with samarium doped ceria (SDC) electrolyte. LSZF cathode at x = 0.2 composition demonstrates the remarkable electrochemical activity at intermediate temperature (550 °C): such as, high electrical conductivity (13.63 S cm −1 ), excellent thermal stability with SDC electrolyte (12.10 μK −1 ), high surface area (4.52 m 2 g −1 ), extremely reduced area specific resistance (0.69 Ω cm −2 ) and low activation energy (0.117 eV). Furthermore, single fuel cells are fabricated using LSZF as a cathode, which exhibits the excellent performance by achieving the high power density of 409 mW cm −2 under natural gas as a fuel and ambient air as an oxidant at 550 °C with good stability over 10 h. All experimental results indicate that the LSZF is a promising cathode material for natural gas based intermediate temperature fuel cell applications. Graphical abstract: Image 1 LSZF perovskite oxides demonstrate excellent electrochemical activity by achieving the high electrical conductivity and ultra-low area specific resistance at 550 °C. Furthermore, single fuel cell with LSZF cathode exhibits the outstanding electrochemical performance by achieving the high power density of 409 mW cm −2 with commercial available natural gas at 550 °C. Highlights: The LSZF perovskite oxides show the reduced area specific resistance at 550 °C. Thermal expansion coefficient of the LSZF shows excellent compatibility with SDC electrolyte. The LSZF is used as a cathode for direct natural gas based fuel cell at intermediate temperature. Single fuel cell (NiO-SDC/SDC/LSZF) exhibits an outstanding performance with natural gas at 550 °C.