Novel air-electrode materials for low-cost inert-supported solid oxide cells: investigation of materials compatibility during co-sintering

Journal of Materials Science, vol. 58, pp. 13705–13720

Abstract

Abstract For the investigation of the reactivity of alternative solid oxide cell air electrode materials with forsterite (Mg2SiO4), a magnesium silicate doped with Zn and Ca, five different phase materials were chosen: two Ruddlesden–Popper phase materials: La4Ni3O10 (L4N3) and La3Ni2O7 (L3N2) and three titanium-based perovskite materials: SrTiO3 (STO), SrTi0.75Fe0.25O3 (STF25) and CaTi0.9Fe0.1O3 (CTF). Forsterite was chosen as a support material for the fuel cell, as it is abundant and therefore relatively inexpensive. For the investigation of their reactivity, different types of samples were prepared: mixed pellets, double-layered pellets and screen-printed electrode inks on forsterite green substrates, which were subsequently co-sintered at T = 1300 °C. These samples and their cross sections were then studied using XRD, SEM, EDS and TEM lamella point analysis. Consequently, the impedance spectra were acquired to determine their electro-catalytic performance. The two Ruddlesden–Popper phase materials L4N3 and L3N2 are of high interest due to their thermodynamic stability and high electro-catalytic activity, resulting in a very low polarization resistance. However, this polarization resistance is increased when mixing with forsterite material. In case of the three titanium-based perovskites, the electro-catalytic activity is of less interest due to high polarization resistances.

Authors 4

1. Sebastian Zischke Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GfE), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

2. Yoo Jung Sohn

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IEK-1), 52425, Jülich, Germany

3. Olivier Guillon

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IEK-1), 52425, Jülich, Germany

   JARA-Energy, Jülich, Germany

4. Norbert Heribert Menzler

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Materials Synthesis and Processing (IEK-1), 52425, Jülich, Germany