• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.48-55
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• 2024

The electrochemically active site of mixed ionic and electronic conductor (MIEC) as a cathode material is restricted to the triple phase boundary in protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) due to the insufficient of proton-conducting properties of MIEC. This study primarily focused on expanding the electrochemically active site by La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ(LSCF6428)-BaZr_0.4Ce_0.4Y_0.1Yb_0.1O_3-δ (BZCYYb4411) composite cathode. The electrochemical properties of the composite cathode were evaluated using anode-supported PCFC single cells. In comparison to the LSCF6428 cathode, the peak power density of the LSCF6428-BZCYYb4411 composite cathode is much enhanced by the reduction in both ohmic and non-ohmic resistance, possibly due to the increased electrochemically active site.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.186-192
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• 2013

In order to reduce the costs and to improve the durability of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), the operating temperature should be decreased while the power density is maintained as much as possible. However, lowering the operating temperature increases the cathode interfacial polarization resistances dramatically, limiting the performance of low-temperature SOFC at especially purely electronic conducting cathode. To improve cathode performance at low temperature, the number of reaction sites for the oxygen reduction should be increased by using a mixed ionic and electronic conducting (MIEC) material. In this study, anode-supported fuel cells with two different thicknesses of the MIEC cathode were fabricated and tested at various operating temperatures. The anode supported cell with $32.5{\mu}m$-thick BSCFZn-LSCF cathode layer showed much lower polarization resistance than that with $3.2{\mu}m$ thick cahtode and higher power density especially at low temperature. The effects of cathode layer thickness on the electrochemical performance are discussed with analysis of impedance spectra.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.110-115
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• 2011

$Gd_2O_3$-doped $CeO_2$ (GDC) and $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}Co_{0.2}Fe_{0.8}O_3$ (LSCF) composite cathode materials were prepared in order to be applied to intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. The electrochemical polarization was evaluated using ac impedance spectroscopy involving geometric restriction at the interface between an ionic electrolyte and a mixed-conducting cathode. In order to optimize the cathode composites applicable to a GDC electrolyte, the cathode composites were evaluated in terms of polarization losses with regard to a given electrolyte, i.e., GDC electrolyte. The polarization increased significantly with decreasing temperature and was critically dependent on the compositions of the composite cathodes. The optimized cathode composite was found to consist of GDC 50 wt% and LSCF 50 wt%; the corresponding normalized polarization loss was calculated to be 0.64 at $650^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.251-259
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• 2005

In order to characterize the influence of the reaction-site density on the cathodic polarization property of LSCF, we chose the porosity of LSCF as a main controlling variable, which is supposed to be closely related with active sites for the cathode reaction. To control the porosity of cathodes, we changed the mixing ratio of fine and coarse LSCF powders. The porosity and pore perimeter of cathodes were quantitatively analyzed by image analysis. The electrochemical half cell test for the cathodic polarization was performed via 3-probe AC-impedance spectroscopy. According to the investigation, the reduction of oxygen at LSCF cathode was mainly controlled by following two rate determining steps; i) surface diffusion and/or ionic conduction of ionized oxygen through bulk LSCF phase, ii) charge transfer of oxygen ion at cathode/electrolyte interface. Moreover, the overall cathode polarization was diminished as the cathode porosity increased due to the increase of the active reaction sites in cathode layer.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.269-275
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• 2005

We analyzed the unit cell performance against the cathode porosity, which is supposed to be closely related with active sites for the cathode reaction. In order to fabricate the unit cells with different porosity in the cathode layer we changed the mixing ratio of fine and coarse LSCF cathode powders. The final porosity of each cathode layer was 14, 23, 27, $39\%$ respectively. According to the electrochemical analysis of unit cell performance via DC current interruption and AC impedance method, the electrodic polarization resistance was diminished as the cathode porosity increased. The decrease of polarization resistance was attributed due to the increase of active reaction sites and the enhancement of overall unit cell performance could be explained in the same line.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2001

Composite ratio of $LiMn_2O_4$ in cathode was optimized as function of specific surface area. Binder has to be used as possible as little, and it should maintain adhesive property between cathode composite and current collector even though in electrolytes. For this purpose, We used 'Hot Roll Pressing' method, and it was effective. To prevent separation of cathode composite from current collector, PVDF(Polyvinylidenefluoride) has to be mixed more than $1.1\%$ in weight ratio to sum of surface area of lithium manganese oxide and conducting agents. Specific internal resistance was reduced as by increasing electrical conductivity of cathode. And Ratio of 2C rate discharge capacity to 0.2C rate discharge capacity was increased by $17\%$, as increasing electrical conductivity from 0.019 mS/cm to 0.036 mS/cm.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2014

Mixed ionic and electronic conducting $K_2NiF_4$-type oxide, $Nd_{2-x}Sr_xNiO_{4+\delta}$ (x = 0, 0.4, 0.6) powders were synthesized by a solid-state reaction technique and solid oxide fuel cells consisting of a $Nd_{2-x}Sr_xNiO_{4+\delta}-GDC$ cathode, a Ni-YSZ anode and 8YSZ as an electrolyte were fabricated. The effect of strontium substitution for neodymium on the electrical and electrochemical properties was examined. The electrical conductivity increased with an increase in the Sr doping content, while it appears that the excess oxygen (${\delta}$) decreased. Sr doping into $Nd_2NiO_{4+\delta}$ resulted in an increase in the cathode polarization resistance and an decrease in the power density of the cell. These phenomena may be associated with the decreased amount of excess oxygen noted in the $Nd_{2-x}Sr_xNiO_{4+\delta}$ cathode.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.70.1-70.1
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• 2012

In-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy studies of SOFC cathode materials will be discussed in this presentation. The mixed conducting perovskites (ABO3) containing rare and alkaline earth metals on the A-site and a transition metal on the B-site are commonly used as cathodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). However, the details of the oxygen reduction reaction are still not clearly understood. The information about the type of adsorbed oxygen species and their concentration is important for a mechanistic understanding of the oxygen incorporation into these cathode materials. XPS has been widely used for the analysis of adsorbed species and surface structure. However, the conventional XPS experiments have the severe drawback to operate at room temperature and with the sample under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions, which is far from the relevant conditions of SOFC operation. The disadvantages of conventional XPS can be overcome to a large extent with a "high pressure" XPS setup installed at the BESSY II synchrotron. It allows sample depth profiling over 2 nm without sputtering by variation of the excitation energy, and most importantly measurements under a residual gas pressure in the mbar range. It is also well known that the catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction is very sensitive to their electrical conductivity and oxygen nonstoichiometry. Although the electrical conductivity of perovskite oxides has been intensively studied as a function of temperature or oxygen partial pressure (Po2), in-situ measurements of the conductivity of these materials in contact with the electrolyte as a SOFC configuration have little been reported. In order to measure the in-plane conductivity of an electrode film on the electrolyte, a substrate with high resistance is required for excluding the leakage current of the substrate. It is also hardly possible to measure the conductivity of cracked thin film by electrical methods. In this study, we report the electrical conductivity of perovskite $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_{3-{\delta}}$ (LSC) thin films on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte quantitatively obtained by in-situ IR spectroscopy. This method enables a reliable measurement of the electronic conductivity of the electrodes as part of the SOFC configuration regardless of leakage current to the substrate and cracks in the film.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2010

A solid oxide fuel cells(SOFC) is a clean energy technology which directly converts chemical energy to electric energy. When the SOFC is used in cogeneration then the efficiency can reach higher than 80%. Also, it has flexibility in using various fuels like natural gases and bio gases, so it has an advantage over polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells in terms of fuel selection. A typical cathode material of the SOFC in conjunction with yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ) electrolyte is still Sr-doped $LaMnO_3$(LSM). Recently, application of mixed electronic and ionic conducting perovskites such as Sr-doped $LaCoO_3$(LSCo), $LaFeO_3$(LSF), and $LaFe_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_3$(LSCF) has drawn much attention because these materials exhibit lower electrode impedance than LSM. However, chemical reaction occurs at the manufacturing temperature of the cathode when these materials directly contact with YSZ. In addition, thermal expansion coefficient(TEC) mismatch with YSZ is also a significant issue. It is important, therefore, to develop cathode materials with good chemical stability and matched TEC with the SOFC electrolyte, as well as with high electrochemical activity.