Layered perovskites as cathode materials for IT-SOFC
T* based La₀.₉Ln₀.₉Sr₀.₂CuO₄ (Ln = Sm & Gd) has been investigated as cathode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell using Ce₀.₉Gd₀.₁O₁.₉₅ (GDC) and La₀.₉Sr₀.₁Ga₀.₈Mg₀.₂O₃-δ (LSGM-9182) as the electrolyte material. Both oxides crystallize in tetragonal P4/nmm symmetry. The structural and phase stability has been confirmed up to 800 °C by High temperature XRD studies. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and oxygen content decrease with decreasing size of the Ln³+ ions from Ln = Sm to Gd. While the decrease in CTE is due to the increasing co-valence of the Ln–O bond, the decrease in electrical conductivity at high temperature is due to the increasing oxide ion vacancies and a bending of the O–Cu–O bonds. The highest value of DC conductivity has been observed for the LSSCu, which showed a metal like temperature dependence. LGSCu showed a semiconductor to metallic temperature dependence of conductivity with a maximum of 25 Scm-¹. From the microstructural characterization and the polarisation resistance measurement of the symmetric cells at temperature ranges from 700 - 800 °C, 900 °C has been chosen as the most suitable sintering temperature and LGSCu has shown the minimum polarization resistance of 0.35 Ωcm² and 0.09 Ωcm² at 800 °C using GDC and LSGM-9182 electrolytes respectively under OCV condition. To improve the ASR of LGSCu, the composite of LGSCu and GDC with varying wt. % of GDC has been optimised and it shows the ASR of 0.12 Ωcm² using GDC as the electrolyte because it enhance the triple phase boundary region. The maximum power density of single-cell SOFCs fabricated with the La₀.₉Ln₀.₉Sr₀.₂CuO₄ (Ln= Sm & Gd) cathodes, La₀.₉Sr₀.₁Ga₀.₈Mg₀.₂O₃-δ (LSGM-9182) electrolyte, and Ni–Ce₀.₉Gd₀.₁O₁.₉₅ cermet anode exhibit 720 and 824 mWcm-² at 800 °C respectively. The phase pure T* Nd₁.₃₂Ce₀.27Sr₀.₄₁CuO₄-δ (NCSCu) has been synthesized by combustion method and its crystal chemistry, thermal and electrochemical properties, and catalytic activity in SOFC were evaluated using LSGM-9182 as the electrolyte. It shows promising performance and can be used as potential cathode materials for IT-SOFC. The effect of B-site Ni and Co substitution for Cu on the structural and electrochemical properties of the T* La₀.₉Gd₀.₉Sr₀.₂CuO₄ has been investigated as cathode materials for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells using LSGM-9182 as the electrolyte. At a given temperature, the electrical conductivity gradually increases with increasing Ni content and the CTE gradually decreases. Ni doping has also improved the electrochemical performance. Sr doped A /A //B₂O₅+δ (A / = Rare Earth, A // = Ba or Sr and B = Transition Metals) layered perovskites improves the electrochemical performance due to the increase in electrical conductivity and smaller size difference between Ln+³ and Sr+². However these layered perovskites suffer from high thermal expansion coefficient (20-23 x 10-6 K-1) which does not match with the state of the art electrolyte materials. B-site transition metal doped layered perovskites of compositions SmBa₀.₅Sr₀.₅Co₂-ₓO₅+δ (M = Cu, Ni, Fe) have been investigated as cathode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell using LSGM-9182 as the electrolyte material. Phase purity has been confirmed by XRD technique. The crystal cell parameters have been found out using Rietveld refinement by FULLPROF software. The substitution of Cu, Ni and Fe for Co lowers the CTE of Co-based materials by suppression of the spin state transition of Co³+ which will be highly advantageous for long term SOFC application. The introduction of transition metals exhibit inferior electrochemical performance to pristine cathode using LSGM-9182 as the electrolyte but still shows reasonable power density with advantage of lower CTE value thereby can be explored as promising cathode material for IT-SOFCs.
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