DURABILITY AND OPTIMIZATION OF SOFC COMPOSITE CATHODES
DURABILITY AND OPTIMIZATION OF SOFC COMPOSITE CATHODES
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Date
2016
Authors
Painter, Albert Steven
Advisor
Wachsman, Eric D
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Abstract
The combination of the conventional cathode material, La0.8Sr0.2MnO3-𝛿 (LSM), and exceptional oxygen ion conducting material, (Er0.2Bi0.8)2O3 (ESB), has shown promise as a potential candidate for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC) cathodes. Though the initial performance of this composite is encouraging, the long-term stability of LSM-ESB has yet to be investigated. Here electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to in situ monitor the durability of LSM-ESB at typical LT-SOFC operation temperatures. The degradation rate as a function of aging time was extracted based on the EIS data. Post analysis suggests that below 600 °C the order-disorder transition of ESB limits the performance due to a decrease in the oxygen incorporation rate. Above 600°C, the formation of secondary phases, identified as Mn-Bi-O, is the major performance degradation mechanism. Furthermore, the relative particle size of the LSM to ESB was optimized to minimize long-term degradation in cathode performance.