Synthesis and Electrochemical Characterization of La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3–δ and BaZr_0.8Y_0.2O_3–δ Electrospun Nanofiber Cathodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

The microstructure, elements distribution, and crystallinity of La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3-δ (LSCF) and BaZr 0.8 Y 0.2 O 3-δ (BZY) nanofibers prepared by electrospinning method are systematically characterized. The electrochemical performance of the single cell with the cathode of nanofiber microstructure is tested by compared with the traditional powder materials. The results of electrochemical measurement manifest that the overall performance of the cells is improved greatly by the cathode with nanofibers. At the operating temperature of 700 C, the peak power density is 1105 mW cm À2 and the polarization resistance is 0.041 Ω cm 2 , much better than the cells with powder cathode. The nanofiber cathode has excellent permeability and faster charge transfer rate due to its porous network structure, uniform diameter, and small grain size. Three-phase boundaries and reaction rate in cathode are increased, and thus the stability and electrochemical performance of individual cells are improved. This study not only expands the application of electrospinning in the field of energy, but also provides more methods to prepare high-quality electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs).

Overview of Approaches to Increase the Electrochemical Activity of Conventional Perovskite Air Electrodes

“…In general, these are mainly the low-temperature methods to maintain the high surface area of the nanosized materials. Among the variety of methods available to improve the conventional perovskite electrodes by extending the triple-phase boundary (TPB), it is worth mentioning spray pyrolysis in its different modifications highlighted in the review [273], and used for LSM in [218,219,[274][275][276][277], and for LSCF in [223,[278][279][280][281]; electrospinning represented in reviews [282][283][284], and used for LSM in [285,286], and for LSCF in [286][287][288][289][290][291][292] template method used for LSM in [293], and for LSCF in [294][295][296][297]; infiltration method considered in the reviews [298][299][300][301][302], and used for LSM in [26,54,148,154,232,[303][304][305][306][307]…”

Highly Stable Protonic Ceramic Electrolysis Cells Based on Air Electrodes with Finger-Like Pores Current Collection Layers Running in High-Steam-Content Air

“…Researchers have also made various attempts to modify the air electrode microstructure, such as electrostatic slurry spray deposition to prepare macroporous or gradient porosity composite air electrodes; spray pyrolysis to prepare nanobilayer air electrodes; and magnetron sputtering to prepare porous columnar nanoelectrodes. , All of these results show that microstructure modification can effectively improve the gas diffusion rate in the air electrodes and reduce electrode polarization. With the development of nanotechnology and related equipment such as laser pulse deposition (PLD), electrostatic spinning, and atomic layer deposition, cathodes with smaller particles and pore sizes can be obtained. However, the above methods usually require sophisticated and expensive instruments and strict control of the atmosphere of the preparation process is required.…”