Conversion of CO2 through solid oxide co-electrolysis cell with cobalt-free fuel electrode

Abstract

As an efficient device to convert CO2/H2O into fuels through renewable energy, Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) has gotten considerable attention. However, the compromised activity of the fuel electrodes has restrained the development of SOEC. To improve the overall performance of the SOEC in this work, Nb and Sr are doped in LaFeO3 to prepare La0.9Sr0.1Fe0.9Nb0.1O3-δ (LSFN) perovskite material used as the fuel electrode. The results show that LSFN exhibits excellent stability and high performance as a fuel electrode. Meanwhile, the current density can reach up to 1.516 A cm−2 and 1.394 A cm−2 @1.5 V at 850 ℃ with the composition of 40%H2O-60%H2 and 30%CO2-50%H2O-20%H2 respectively. Finally, the LSFN|GDC|YSZ|GDC|LSCF shows excellent stability, running stably for ∼ 60 h under the condition of a mixture of H2O and CO2 at 850 ℃. Overall LSFN is a highly efficient and stable fuel electrode for SOEC applications.