Boosting the Performance and Stability of Perovskites by Construction of NiFe Alloy and PrO_x Heterogeneously Structured Composites for High‐Performance Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anode

Abstract

Sr2Fe1.5Mo0.5O6‐δ (SFM) perovskite oxide is one of the most promising materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) anode. However, the low catalytic activity is a major roadblock that obstructs its practical applications. Although in situ exsolution of B‐site metals is demonstrated as a promising approach to enhancing its performance, it can easily induce the co‐segregation of A‐site Sr, which seriously deteriorates the performance stability. In this work, the A‐site Sr element in SFM is partially replaced by Pr, while B‐site Mo is partially replaced by Ni. The in situ co‐exsolution of both FeNi alloy and PrOx nanoparticles on the reduced Pr0.8Sr1.2Fe1.5Mo0.3Ni0.2O6‐δ (R‐PSFMN) perovskite is successfully achieved. It is found that the peak power densities (Pmax) of the single cell using R‐PSFMN as the anode reaches as high as 2.29, 1.60, 1.07, and 0.67 W cm−2 in H2 atmosphere at the operating temperatures of 850, 800, 750 and 700 °C, respectively. Furthermore, it also exhibits excellent performance stability and anticoke properties when using ethane as fuel. The impregnation experiment further corroborates that the improved performance and stability are partly attributable to the contribution of PrOx nanoparticles, presenting a promising approach to enhance the electrochemical performance of SOFC perovskite anodes.