Fabrication and Electrochemical Performance of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 Impregnated
Porous YSZ Cathode
Baijnath (Prof. S. Basu)
9th November 2016, Wednesday, 04:30-05:00 pm (25+5 mins), ChE
Seminar hall
La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-yttria stabilized zirconia (LSCO-YSZ) composite
cathode for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been fabricated by wet
impregnation method. Nitrate precursors of La, Sr and Co have been
impregnated into the pre-sintered porous YSZ matrix, which is
converted into LSCO phase after calcination at 850 °C as confirmed from
X-ray diffraction. LSCO of 5, 7 and 10 wt% impregnated porous YSZ
have been electrochemically characterized using 2-probe AC
conductivity method. Maximum ionic conductivity of 0.27 S/cm at 800 °C and
activation energy of 0.15 eV between 600800 °C have been observed for 10
wt% LSCO-YSZ cathode. Area specific resistance of 1.01 cm2 at
800 °C is estimated for the electrolyte supported half cell (10 wt%
LSCO-YSZ/YSZ). After testing the LSCO‐YSZ cathode matrix, the
electrolyte supported full cell (10 wt% LSCO-YSZ/YSZ/NiO-YSZ)
has been tested and produced maximum power density 51.12 mW/cm2 (109.38
mA/cm2) at 800 °C. The electrolyte supported full cell exhibited 6 cm2 electrode polarization at 800 °C in H2, which is in high side leading to low performance. LSCO- YSZ/YSZ/NiO-YSZ SOFC found to give stable performance up to 2 h and scanning electron microscopy analysis has been carried out before and after cell testing to assess the morphological changes.