Electrochemical performance of sol-gel derived La0.6S0.4CoO3-δ cathode material for proton-conducting fuel cell: A comparison between simple and advanced cell fabrication techniques

Abstract

In this study, the effects of different fabrication techniques on the electrochemical performance of solgel derived La 0.6 Sr 0.4 CoO 3-δ (LSC) cathode material for intermediate temperature proton-conducting fuel cells were investigated. Single-phase, sub-micron LSC powder was used to prepare cathode slurries by a simple grinding-stirring (G-S) technique and an advanced ball milling-triple roll milling (BM-TRM) technique. The prepared G-S and BM-TRM cathode slurries were brush painted and screen printed, respectively, onto separate BaCe 0.54 Zr 0.36 Y 0.1 O 2.95 (BCZY) proton-conducting electrolytes to fabricate symmetrical cells of LSC|BCZY|LSC. The thickness of LSC cathode layer prepared by brush painting and screen printing was 17 ± 0.5 µm and 7 ± 0.5 µm, and the surface porosity of the layers was 32% and 27%, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis revealed that the layer deposited by screen printing had lower area specific resistance measured at 700°C (0.25 Ω cm 2) than the layer prepared by brush painting of G-S slurry (1.50 Ω cm 2). The enhanced LSC cathode performance of the cell fabricated using BM-TRM assisted with screen printing is attributed to the improved particle homogeneity and network in the prepared slurry and the enhanced particle connectivity in the screen printed film.

Understanding the Impact of Sintering Temperature on the Properties of Ni–BCZY Composite Anode for Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell Application

“…Hence, for the anodes that sintered at 1200 • C and 1300 • C, only R 2 was used to calculate the ASR, while for the anode sintered at 1400 • C, both R 1 and R 2 were used to calculate the ASR. The pattern observed in the plot was identical to that of the previous studies [41,44]. Based on the fitting process, the characteristic frequency (f max ) and capacitance (C) were calculated by the following equations [45]:…”

“…where R 1 and R 2 are the polarisation resistances when the process of charge transfer and gas diffusion occurs [41,42]. In this equation, A represents the active working area of the anode (1 cm 2 ).…”