Highly active and stable BaCo0.8Zr0.1Y0.1O3-δ cathode for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

Developing cathode material with high performance and excellent stability is the ultimate goal for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Based on this consideration, we design a new simple perovskite oxide BaCo0.8Zr0.1Y0.1O3-δ (BCZY) as the cathode material of SOFC without any further modification, which has good oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and excellent stability in air and CO2 at an intermediate temperature range of 600 ℃− 800 ℃. The area specific resistance (ASR) of symmetrical cell with BCZY cathode is 0.041 Ω cm2 at 700 ℃, moreover, BCZY cathode keeps good structural and catalytic stability during 100 h test in air. The electrolyte-supported single cell fabricated with BCZY as cathode delivers a maximum power density of 460 mW cm−2 and a superior steady operation over 200 h at 700 ℃. The good thermal physical structure stability of BCZY is further demonstrated by in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD), good ORR activity and excellent CO2 tolerance are further confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. These results indicates that BCZY maybe a potential cathode material for intermediate temperature SOFCs (IT-SOFCs).