Preparation of NdBaCo2O5+δ–Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 composite cathode by in situ sol-mixing method and its high-temperature electrochemical properties

Abstract

NdBaCo2O5+δ-xCe0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (NBCO-xCGO, x = 0 ~ 8 wt%) composite materials are prepared by novel sol-mixing method and evaluated as cathodes for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. The chemical compatibility, thermal expansion behavior and electrochemical performance of NBCO-xCGO composite cathodes are studied. There is no chemical reaction between NBCO and CGO after sintering at 1100 °C for 12 h. Introducing CGO leads to the decrease of both thermal expansion coefficient and conductivity. Among all the composites, NBCO-5CGO shows the lowest polarization resistance of 0.034 Ω cm2 at 700 °C. The anode-supported single-cell with NBCO-5CGO cathode exhibits a maximum power density of 1.0 W cm−2 at 700 °C. The electrochemical impedance spectrum measurement combining with the distribution of relaxation times analysis proves that the addition of CGO nanoparticles significantly improves the surface oxygen dissociation process, and the charge transfer process is identified to be the reaction limiting step to control the oxygen reduction kinetics on NBCO-5CGO composite cathode.