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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Stevin PramanaORCiD
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018.
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Lowering the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) devices is one of the major challenges limiting the industrial breakthrough of this technology. In this study we explore a novel approach to electrode preparation employing amorphous cathode materials. La0.8Sr0.2CoO3−δdense films have been deposited at different temperatures using pulsed laser deposition on silicon substrates. Depending on the deposition temperature, textured polycrystalline or amorphous films have been obtained. Isotope exchange depth profiling experiments reveal that the oxygen diffusion coefficient of the amorphous film increased more than four times with respect to the crystalline materials and was accompanied by an increase of the surface exchange coefficient. No differences in the surface chemical composition between amorphous and crystalline samples were observed. Remarkably, even if the electronic conductivities measured by the Van Der Pauw method indicate that the conductivity of the amorphous material was reduced, the overall catalytic properties of the cathode itself were not affected. This finding suggests that the rate limiting step is the oxygen mobility and that the local electronic conductivity in the amorphous cathode surface is enough to preserve its catalytic properties. Different cathode materials have also been tested to prove the more general applicability of the amorphous-cathode route.
Author(s): Cavallaro A, Pramana SS, Ruiz-Trejo E, Sherrell PC, Ware E, Kilner JA, Skinner SJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Sustainable Energy & Fuels
Year: 2018
Volume: 2
Issue: 4
Pages: 862-875
Print publication date: 01/04/2018
Online publication date: 16/02/2018
Acceptance date: 05/02/2018
Date deposited: 15/11/2018
ISSN (electronic): 2398-4902
Publisher: The Royal Society of Chemistry
URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7se00606c
DOI: 10.1039/c7se00606c
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