Abstract
The further development of solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells (SOFC/SOEC) strongly relies on research activities dealing with electrode materials. Recent studies showed that under operating conditions many perovskite-type oxide electrodes are prone to changes of their surface composition, leading to severe changes of their electrochemical performance. This results in a large scatter of data in literature and complicates comparison of materials. Moreover, little information is available on the potentially excellent properties of surfaces immediately after preparation, that is, before any degradation by exposure to other gas compositions or temperature changes. Here, we introduce in situ impedance spectroscopy during pulsed laser deposition (IPLD) as a new method for electrochemical analysis of mixed ionic and electronic conducting (MIEC) thin films during growth. First, this approach can truly reveal the properties of as-prepared MIEC electrode materials, since it avoids any alterations of their surface between preparation and investigation. Second, the measurements during growth give information on the thickness dependence of film properties. This technique is applied to La0.6Sr0.4CoO3−δ (LSC), one of the most promising SOFC/SOEC oxygen electrode material. From the earliest stages of LSC film deposition on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) to a fully grown thin film of 100 nm thickness, data are gained on the oxygen exchange kinetics and the defect chemistry of LSC. A remarkable reproducibility is found in repeated film growth experiments, not only for the bulk related chemical capacitance but also for the surface related polarization resistance (±10%). Polarization resistances of as-prepared LSC films are extraordinarily low (2.0 Ω cm2 in 40 μbar O2 at 600 °C). LSC films on YSZ and on La0.95Sr0.05Ga0.95Mg0.05O3−δ (LSGM) single crystals exhibit significantly different electrochemical properties, possibly associated with the tensile strain of LSC on LSGM.
Highlights
The further development of solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells (SOFC/solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs)) strongly relies on research activities dealing with electrode materials
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) may become important technologies to ease the transition from fossil fuels to renewable resources such as biomass and hydrogen.[1−4] Current applications include combined heating and power (CHP) systems, as well as auxiliary power units and typically operate at 700−900 °C.5,6
The impedance is characterized by a high frequency intercept on the x-axis (>50 kHz) followed by two depressed semicircles at medium (50 kHz−1 Hz) and low (1 Hz−10 mHz) frequencies
Summary
The further development of solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells (SOFC/SOEC) strongly relies on research activities dealing with electrode materials. Recent studies showed that under operating conditions many perovskite-type oxide electrodes are prone to changes of their surface composition, leading to severe changes of their electrochemical performance This results in a large scatter of data in literature and complicates comparison of materials. We introduce in situ impedance spectroscopy during pulsed laser deposition (IPLD) as a new method for electrochemical analysis of mixed ionic and electronic conducting (MIEC) thin films during growth This approach can truly reveal the properties of as-prepared MIEC electrode materials, since it avoids any alterations of their surface between preparation and investigation. The measurements during growth give information on the thickness dependence of film properties This technique is applied to La0.6Sr0.4CoO3−δ (LSC), one of the most promising SOFC/SOEC oxygen electrode material. An electrode material of particular interest is LSC, since it shows very high electronic conductivity (∼1000 S/cm) together with low polarization resistance for the oxygen exchange reaction (one of the lowest oxygen exchange resistances reported so far was ∼0.5 Ω cm[2] for a thin film at 600 °C and 0.21 bar oxygen partial pressure[13])
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