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Beneficial effect of oxygen-ion conductor infiltration on the electrocatalytic properties of a heavily strontium-doped lanthanum nickelate Ruddlesden-Popper SOFC cathode

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Abstract

The microstructure and electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction of La1.2Sr0.8NiO4-δ electrodes were examined as a function of electrode thickness. The length of catalytically active region and optimal thickness of La1.2Sr0.8NiO4-δ electrode at 800 °C were gauged to be about 2 and 10 μm, respectively. Varying amounts of Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 were infiltrated into the electrodes with the optimal thickness. The phase structure, microstructure and electrocatalytic properties of the infiltrated electrodes were investigated with respect to infiltrate loading and the history of cathodic polarization under different conditions. It was demonstrated that infiltrating an appropriate amount of Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 into the electrode helped to improve the electrode performance, not only enhancing the electrocatalytic activity but also alleviating the degradation of the electrode property after experiencing cathodic polarization. The mechanisms underneath the beneficial effect were explained in relation to the microstructure of the infiltrated electrodes. The electrode infiltrated with 12 vol% Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 showed a low polarization resistance of 0.049 Ω·cm2 at 800 °C, while the increment of the polarization resistance of the infiltrated electrode after experiencing cathodic polarization was nearly half that of the pristine electrode after being likewise polarized.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52372182, 51872047 and 51572204) and Guangdong Basic and Applied Research Foundation (2022A1515012001).

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  1. Shu Han and Yong-Qi Lei contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Shu Han, Yong-Qi Lei, Qing Xu, Duan-Ping Huang & Feng Zhang

  2. School of Materials Science and Energy Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China

    Min Chen, Kai Zhao & Dong-Chu Chen

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  1. Shu Han
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Contributions

All authors whose names appear on the manuscript made respective contributions to the conception and design of the work, the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, and the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The specified contributions of the authors are listed below. Han Shu: Methodology, Investigation, Software, Validation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft, Visualization. Yong-Qi Lei: Software, Investigation, Validation, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft, Visualization. Qing Xu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Validation, Supervision. Duan-Ping Huang: Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation. Min Chen: Conceptualization, Writing-review & editing, Project administration Funding acquisition. Kai Zhao: Methodology, Writing-review & editing, Funding acquisition. Dong-Chu Chen: Resources, Supervision. Feng Zhang: Methodology, Data curation, Resources.

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Han, S., Lei, YQ., Xu, Q. et al. Beneficial effect of oxygen-ion conductor infiltration on the electrocatalytic properties of a heavily strontium-doped lanthanum nickelate Ruddlesden-Popper SOFC cathode. Ionics 30, 2177–2189 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-024-05431-6

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