Anode plays a very important role in the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) [1, 2]. In order to improve the cell performance proper anode materials should be selectd with suitable cell fabrication techniques. La-doped SrTiO₃ (La_0.4Sr_0.6TiO₃, LST) has received many attentions as an alternative anode material to state-of-art Ni-cermets anode for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), because of its high redox stability, good electrical conductivity, and similar thermal expansion properties of yttria-stablized zirconia (YSZ) elecrolytes [3, 4]. Nowdays, decreasing the operating temperature of SOFCs down to intermediate temperature (IT) range (less than 800) is required to improve long-term durability and operational stability with economical advantages [5]. Hence, in this work, LST anode materials are fabricated with the highly conductive Nd_0.1Ce_0.9O₂ (NDC) electrolytes and characterized to investigate the feasibility of SOFCs at the IT. In addition, LST is composited with the NDC to improve the ionic conductivity and decrease the thermal expansion mismatch of anode materails to the electrolyte. The Electrochmical impedance spectra (EIS) analysis shows that the polarization resistance of LST-NDC composite anode decreases with increasing of NDC concentrations, and 60:40 (LST:NDC in weight fraction) exhibits the lowest polarization resistance value at 650. The maximum power density of LST-NDC composite anode-cell is 143 mW cm^-2 at 650, and thus we confirm the possbilty of LST as an anode material for the application of IT-SOFCs.

References

[1] S. Park, J.M. Vohs, R.J. Gorte, Nature 404 (2000) 265.

[2] S. Tao, J.T.S. Irvine, Nat. Mater. 2 (2003) 320.

[3] Ahmed D. Aljaberi and John T. S. Irvine. J. Mater. Chem. A. 1 (2013) 5868.

[4] Azra Yaqub, Cristian Savaniu, Naveed K. Janjuab and John T. S. Irvine, J. Mater. Chem. A, 1 (2013) 14189

[5] K.T. Lee, E.D. Wachsman, Science 334 (2011) 935.

Keywords: anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells, Ni-free anode material, redox stability, La-doped SrTiO₃, Nd_0.1Ce_0.9O₂ electrolyte.

* Corresponding author: Tel.: +82-2-3408-3848; Fax: +82-2-3408-4342

E-mail address: jyoung@sejong.ac.kr (J.-Y. Park)