화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol.156, No.8, K139-K143, 2009
Nanoengineered BSCF Cathode Materials for Intermediate-Temperature Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells
A recently reported promising cathode material for solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), namely, BaxSr1-xCoyFe1-yO3-delta (BSCF) is fabricated in nanocrystalline form by a chemical alloying approach. The approach is comprised of solution chemical synthesis of a precursor and its thermochemical processing toward the desired phase. All the constituent elements, Ba, Sr, Co, and Fe, were coprecipitated from an aqueous solution of their salts to produce a precursor with a well-defined composition, fine particle size, high homogeneity, and high reactivity. After calcining and sintering at 1000 degrees C, the individual oxides were alloyed into nanostructured perovskite (with x=0.5 and y=0.2) Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.2Fe0.8O3 of high purity. Spark plasma sintering was used for compaction to preserve the material's nanostructure, and sintered compacts demonstrated a significant increase in electrical conductivity values at temperatures up to 900 degrees C, compared to the earlier reports. The measured conductivity values are sufficiently high for cathode applications with a maximum of about 63 S cm(-1) at 430 degrees C in air and 25 S cm(-1) at 375 degrees C in N-2, respectively. These values are about twice as high as conventional BSCF mainly due to the reduction in interfacial resistance, implying a high promise for nanoengineered BSCF as cathode material at low or intermediate-temperature SOFCs.