Investigation on a novel composite solid oxide fuel cell anode with La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ derived phases

In this paper, a unit cell with La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ as anode, Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_1.9 as electrolyte and PrBaCo₂O_5+δ as cathode (LSCF|SDC|PBCO) was fabricated using a cost-effective way by single-step sintering. During testing in reducing atmosphere, the LSCF electrode was in situ decomposed and generated a novel composite electrode material. It is interesting that this composite anode shows an excellent electrochemical performance. The peak power density of a fuel cell based on this innovative anode reaches 325 mW cm^-2 when use hydrogen as fuel at 800 °C. The constant current discharge result shows that the output voltage drop is only 2% over the entire testing of nearly 40 h. The scanning electron micrographs (SEM) images present a distinct morphology evolution derived from the in situ decomposition of LSCF. The XRD result indicates that the decomposition products of LSCF are consist of LaSrFeO₄, CoO, Fe₇Co₃, and La₂O₃ phases. The present results indicate that LSCF can potentially be a promising precursor for the anode material of solid oxide fuel cell.