Chemical synthesis of materials based on calcium zirconate for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC)

Abstract

Fuel cells allow the production of energy from a clean electrochemical reaction. Among various types, the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operates at high temperatures, allowing the conversion of hydrogen fuel into electricity, where water is generated as a by‐product. Strontium‐doped lanthanum manganite (La1‐xSrxMnO3, LSM) is commonly used as a cathodic material in traditional high‐temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Nowadays, the operating temperature of SOFCs should be reduced to 600–800°C due to improved fine electrolyte production techniques and the use of some intermediate temperature electrolytes. The LSM is not a suitable cathode for SOFCs operating in this temperature range, since it does not have a high enough conductivity and its electrochemical activity is very low as well. In this article, the performance improvement of LSM is described by mixing with calcium zirconate. The composite ceramic materials CaZrO3−La0.6Sr0.4MnO3, CaZrO3−NiO, and CaZrO3 were synthesized by combustion method, for application as a SOFC single cell. The results prove that the synthesized materials have potential to be used in a SOFC cell. At 800°C, was confirmed the CaZrO3 formation. Through Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, the analysis presented low activation energy and the materials have been demonstrated to be compatible, an important fact to construct a suitable SOFC cell. The obtained activation energy was 0.90, 0.85, and 0.51 eV for the electrolyte, the anode and the cathode, respectively.

Advancements in Perovskite‐Based Cathode Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells: A Comprehensive Review

“…[55] It was shown that increasing Sr concentration up to x = 0.5 in LSM matrix for LSM-YSZ composites is advantageous for both electronic conductivity and polarization resistance. [5,[56][57][58] Nevertheless, normally, compositions ranging from x = 0.15 to x = 0.2 are chosen due to their mechanical suitability with YSZ. [58] Ananyev et al [59] also developed LSM-YSZ composite cathode for SOFC.…”

Technologies for sustainable heat generation in food processing

“…Last, SOFCs operate at the highest temperatures of the discussed fuel cells with temperatures of 800-1,000 • C (Figure 1) to facilitate the mass transfer through the solid electrolyte layer (Vieira et al, 2019). The electrolyte layer is an ion-conducting solid-electrolyte that is layered between the two porous electrodes (Mahato et al, 2015).…”