Structural and electrochemical characterisations of lanthanum-based cobalt ferrite and barium cerate-zirconate oxides as composite cathode for proton ceramic fuel cell

Abstract

This study investigated the composite cathode of LaSrCoFeO3-BaCeZrYO3 (LSCF-BCZY) in a ratio of 7: 3. A 13-mm symmetrical half-cell was fabricated using the dry pressing and spin-coating techniques to yield the configuration of LSCF-BCZY|BCZY|LSCF-BCZY. The phase of the sample was verified using the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The electrochemical and microstructure of the half-cell were characterized using the Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), respectively. The XRD analysis showed that the single-phase structure of LSCF and BCZY was still preserved at the calcination temperature of 900oC. The half-cell demonstrated a thermally activated trend in a humidified atmosphere with area-specific resistance values of 0.25, 0.33, 1.02, 1.64, and 5.75 O.cm2 at temperatures of 800, 750, 700, 650, and 600oC, respectively. The SEM image revealed that the 10-µm LSCF-BCZY layer was well-adhered on the dense BCZY electrolyte surface. This synthesised LSCF-BCZY in the ratio of 7: 3 demonstrated excellent characteristics as a composite cathode for PCFCs.