Enhancing the electrocatalytic activity of perovskite electrodes by atomic layer-deposited doped CeO2 for symmetrical solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

Reasonable design of perovskite electrodes via surface engineering to realize high activity and good durability is an attractive strategy for advanced symmetrical solid oxide fuel cells (S-SOFCs). Herein, we highlight uniformly distributed iron doped CeO2 (FDC) nanoparticles decorated PrBaMn0.5Fe1.5O5+δ perovskite (PBMF/FDC) via atomic layer deposition (ALD) as symmetric electrodes for S-SOFC. It is revealed that the ALD-FDC decoration contributes to both oxygen reduction and fuel oxidation kinetics, ultimately demonstrating high electrochemical performance. After the optimized FDC decoration, the interfacial polarization resistances decrease by 69 % in air and by 27% in 5 %H2/Ar at 650 °C, respectively. As a demo, the peak power density of S-SOFCs with PBMF/FDC electrodes using hydrogen as a fuel delivers a high peak power density of 573 mW cm−2 and 305 mW cm−2 at 750 and 650 °C, respectively, superior to the bare PBMF based S-SOFCs. Moreover, the S-SOFCs with PBMF/FDC electrodes show long-lasting life when using humidified syngas and humidified C3H8 as fuels. These findings disclose a facile ALD approach to tailor perovskite electrodes for robust and efficient electrocatalysis.