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A novel polymer-ceramic composite low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

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Abstract

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is composited into electrolyte material, e.g., LaCePr-oxide-La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LCP-LSCF), to improve its electrochemical performance and enhance its mechanical strength for a low-temperature solid oxide fuel cell. The influence of different PVDF contents on the performance of the as-prepared samples was studied in this work. X-ray diffraction results indicate that there is no impurity phase in the composite. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were employed to investigate the composite’s stability at operating temperature. The I–V and I–P characteristics indicate that the microstructures of the nanocomposites that can be controlled by PVDF which plays an important role in its electrochemical performance. The cell with 3 wt% PVDF that was heat treated at 210 °C achieved the highest power density of 687 mW cm−2 at 550 °C, which was 196 mW cm−2 higher than that without any heat treatment. The pores are formed by PVDF, and the heat treatment enlarged the triple-phase boundary (TPB), which was the main reason for improved performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant Nos. 17KJB120003; 19KJB480010). This work is also partly supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University (Grant No. 2020NXY12), and the Foundation of Jinling Institute of Technology (Grant Nos: jit-fhxm-201607 and jit-b-201706), the foundation of Jiangsu province modern education research (Grant No. 2019-R-80918), the Education Reform Project of Jinling Institute of Technology (Grant No. KCSZ2019-5).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, 211171, People’s Republic of China

    Yuzheng Lu

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, Xuchang Electrical Vocational College, Xuchang, 461000, China

    Kunping Zhang

  3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Vocational Institute of Mechatronic Technology, Nanjing, 211135, People’s Republic of China

    Junjiao Li

  4. School of Intelligence Science and Control Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 211169, China

    Xiaomin Tian

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  1. Yuzheng Lu
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  4. Xiaomin Tian
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Correspondence to Yuzheng Lu.

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Lu, Y., Zhang, K., Li, J. et al. A novel polymer-ceramic composite low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 1918–1927 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04960-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04960-w

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