Morphological and Physical Behaviour on the Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ/Sm0.2 Ce0.8O1.9 Incorporation with Binary Carbonate as Potential Cathode Materials for SOFC

Abstract

The correlation between calcination temperature with the morphological, porosity and density of Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3−δ/ Sm0.2 Ce0.8O1.9 incorporation with binary carbonate prepared by high energy ball milling (HEBM) method has been investigated. The composite cathode, samarium strontium cobaltite-samarium doped ceria carbonate (SSC:SDCc), was developed and scrutinised as for potential cathode materials in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. This research studied the influence of carbonate in composite electrolyte, SDCc towards the composite cathode properties. The composition of 50 wt.% of SSC was chosen to be added with 50 wt.% of SDCc powder. The prepared powders of composite cathode SSC5:SDCc5 were then undergone calcination process at different operating temperatures which has been varied from 600°C, 650°C, 700°C and 750°C and all prepared pellets were sintered at 600 °C. The morphological properties of the composite cathode powders were observed via FESEM micrograph, and the average particle sizes of the composite powders were measured via SmartTiff Software. The total porosity (%) of the SSC5:SDCc5 composite cathode pellets was determined using the Archimedes method. The FESEM micrograph revealed that the obtained composite cathode powder is homogeneous, fine with average of agglomerates sizes of 70–100 nm. By increased on calcination temperatures, the agglomerates size of the composite cathode and the density of the pellet increased. Meanwhile the results collected from porosity value are decreased. The porosity percentage lies in the range from 32.3% until 38.7%. Based on the overall results, lower calcination temperature, which is 600° lead to better morphological and physical results. In conclusion, the calcination temperature has a direct effect on the average size of SSC-SDCc composite cathode, porosity and density value but still in line within the acceptable range to serve as effective potential cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells.