No abstract

Reduction-stable mixed ionic and electronic conductors such as Sr(Ti,Fe)O 3-δ (STF) are promising materials for application in anodes of solid oxide fuel cells. The defect chemistry of STF and its properties as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode have been studied thoroughly, while mechanistic investigations of its electrochemical properties as SOFC anode material are still scarce. In this study, thin film model electrodes of STF with 30% and 70% Fe content were investigated in H 2 +H 2 O atmosphere by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Lithographically patterned thin film Pt current collectors were applied on top or beneath the STF thin films to compensate for the low electronic conductivity under reducing conditions. Oxygen exchange resistances, electronic and ionic conductivities and chemical capacitances were quantified and discussed in a defect chemical model. Increasing Fe content increases the electro-catalytic activity of the STF surface as well as the electronic and ionic conductivity. Current collectors on top also increase the electrochemical activity due to a highly active Pt-atmosphere-STF triple phase boundary. Furthermore, the electrochemical activity depends decisively on the H 2 :H 2 O mixing ratio and the polarization. Acceptor-doped mixed ionic and electronic conductors are a promising class of materials for application in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes and they are widely investigated as SOFC cathodes due to their low polarization resistance.1-3 Some of these materials are chemically stable and mixed conducting also in humidified hydrogen atmosphere, 4 which makes them applicable in SOFC anodes. Several mixed conductors, such as acceptor doped (La,Sr)(Cr,Mn)O 3 , [5][6][7][8] donor-doped SrTiO 3 9,10 and Sr(Ti,Fe)O 3-δ -Ce 0.9 Gd 0.1 O 2-δ (STF-GDC) composites 11 were investigated in form of porous SOFC anodes. Most of these studies revealed moderately low polarization resistances. In STF-GDC composites, for example, the anode polarization resistance was <0.2 cm 2 at 800• C, and the overall performance increased with increasing Fe content. However, the usually ill-defined geometry of porous electrodes makes the analysis of specific materials parameters such as electronic and ionic conductivity or oxygen exchange activity very challenging.Thin film model electrodes have well defined and controllable geometry and comparatively simple pathways of electron and oxygen ion migration. This strongly facilitates identification of reaction pathways and quantification of the oxygen exchange activity of the material's surface. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Mechanistic studies using thin film model electrodes have so far been performed mainly in oxidizing atmosphere. Thorough studies of the mechanisms of electrochemical oxygen exchange in reducing atmospheres are still largely missing, not only for STF, but for most reduction stable mixed conductors, except for (Gd or Sm) doped ceria [19][20][21][22][23][24] and a study on (La,Sr)FeO 3-δ. 25 The typically low electronic conductivity of accep...

The oxygen stoichiometry of mixed conducting oxides depends on the oxygen chemical potential and thus on the oxygen partial pressure in the gas phase. Also voltages may change the local oxygen stoichiometry and the amount to which such changes take place is quantified by the chemical capacitance of the sample. Impedance spectroscopy can be used to probe this chemical capacitance. Impedance measurements on different oxides ((La,Sr)FeO 3-δ = LSF, Sr(Ti,Fe)O 3-δ = STF, and Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 = PZT) are presented, and demonstrate how the chemical capacitance may affect impedance spectra in different types of electrochemical cells. A quantitative analysis of the spectra is based on generalized equivalent circuits developed for mixed conducting oxides by J. Jamnik and J. Maier. It is discussed how defect chemical information can be deduced from the chemical capacitance.

Experiments are reported, which allow us to quantify the near-surface cation diffusion in (001) oriented Fe 3 O 4 single crystals at temperatures between 470 and 770 K. Thin homoepitaxial films of magnetite, grown using isotopically labeled 57 Fe, were investigated by neutron reflectivity and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. By heating the thin films in high vacuum to different temperatures for a well-defined time and determining the 57 Fe distribution along the surface normal, the diffusion lengths are obtained. For the investigated temperature range, diffusion constants of the order of 10 −20 m 2 /s are deduced. These results are important in view of near-surface mass transport induced by oxygen chemical potential differences occurring when magnetite is exposed to different gas atmospheres or by adsorbates.