International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.42, No.10, 7220-7225, 2017
Enhancing surface activity of La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-delta cathode by a simple infiltration process
Nanoscaled La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-delta (LSC) prepared by infiltration has been investigated as an effective catalyst to promote oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance for solid-oxide fuel cell. The area specific resistance of original cathode is appreciably reduced by the infiltration of LSC nanoparticles into the porous backbones of LSC cathode. The Arrhenius plots reveal that the reduction is originated from the pre-exponential factor, not the activation energy, suggesting that the rate of ORR has been enhanced by the infiltrated LSC nanoparticles. The infiltrated cell shows a high power density of 800 mW cm(-2) at 700 degrees C, which is more than two times higher than those measured in the same conditions for a similar cell with pristine LSC cathode. Our results demonstrate that simple infiltration process without further heating at high temperature is a potential way to enhance electrochemical performance and to reduce the operating temperature. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Solid-oxide fuel cells;La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-delta cathode;Infiltration;Surface activity;Electrochemical performance