Effect of sintering temperature on properties of LiNiCuZn-Oxide: a potential anode for solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract

Crystal structure and surface morphology play vital role in the performance of Solid Oxide Fuel cells (SOFCs) anode. Sufficient electrocatalytic activity and high conductivity are the key requirements for anode to enhance the electrochemical capability. In current work, sintering temperature effects are investigated on the properties of advanced LiNiCuZn-Oxide based electrode for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The powders were prepared by simple solid-state reaction method was followed by sintering at different temperatures (700 °C–1200 °C). Moreover, various characterization techniques have been employed to investigate the sintering temperatures effects on the crystallite size, morphology, particle size, energy band gap and absorption peaks. The energy gap (Eg) was observed to increase from 2.94 eV to 3.32 eV and dc conductivity decreased from 9.084 Scm−1 to 0.46 Scm−1 by increasing sintering temperature from 700 °C to 1200 °C. Additionally, the best fuel cell performance of 0.90 Wcm−2 was achieved for LiNiCuZn-Oxide sintered at 700 °C using H2/air as a fuel and oxidant and it decreased to 0.17 Wcm−2 for powders sintered at 1200 °C. Based on these results, we can conclude that 700 °C is the best optimum temperature for these chemical compositions, where all parameters of electrode are as per SOFCs requirement.