Effect of Chromium Oxide Additions on the Stability of Glass Ceramic Sealants for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry - The development of electrochemical generators based on solid oxide fuel cells requires the development of sealant materials that would ensure gastight...     

Oxygen isotope exchange in the LSM-YSZ composite under the conditions of long-term tests

The stability of the properties of the composite 40 vol % La_0.6Sr_0.4MnO_{3 ? δ}-60 vol % Zr_0.83Y_0.17O_1.92 (LSM-YSZ) held for 1000 h at a temperature of 800°C and an oxygen pressure of 1.01 kPa and changes in its microstructure were studied by isotope exchange and gas-phase analysis. The oxygen exchange was found to occur by the dissociative adsorption mechanism involving the adsorption forms of oxygen on the triple-phase LSM-YSZ-O₂ boundary. The rate-determining step of the oxygen exchange of the composite did not change with time. The rate of oxygen exchange decreased by 22%, which is comparable to the decrease in the length of the LSM-YSZ-O₂ triple-phase boundary (～20%), on which oxygen exchange is dominant. The conductivity of the LSM-YSZ composite increased due to the connectivity of the material.     

Phase equilibria,water dissolution,and peculiarities of charge transfer in Ca-doped La<Subscript>2</Subscript>Zr<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>7–α</Subscript>

A series of oxides La_{2 - x} Ca _x Zr₂O_7–α (x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) is synthesized. It is found that in samples with the calcium content x = 0.15, 0.20, the second phase Ca_0.9La_0.2Zr_0.9O₃ is present in the fraction increasing with the increase in x. The solubility limit of calcium to form solid solutions based on La₂Zr₂O₇ corresponds to x = 0.1. By high-temperature gravimetry, the proton concentration in La_1.95Са_0.05Zr₂O_7–α is obtained as a function of temperature in the interval of 300–950°С in Н₂О–О₂ atmosphere. According to temperature programmed desorption studies, in the temperature range of 400–900°С at least two types of OH defects with different binding energies are present in the oxide lattice. The temperature dependences of conductivity are obtained for La_1.95Са_0.05Zr₂O_7–α in dry and humid air atmosphere in the temperature range of 350–800°С by the method of impedance spectroscopy. The electrolyte conductivity in humid air is shown to substantially exceed the corresponding values in dry air, which can be associated with manifestation of protonic conductivity in humid atmosphere. The dependences of oxide conductivity on the oxygen content in the gas phase are determined. The conductivity is divided into its ionic and hole components.     

Single SOFC with Supporting Ni-YSZ Anode,Bilayer YSZ/GDC Film Electrolyte,and La<Subscript>2</Subscript>NiO<Subscript>4 + δ</Subscript> Cathode

Characteristics of fuel cells with supporting Ni-YSZ anode, bilayer YSZ/GDC electrolyte with the thickness of 10 μm, and La₂NiO_{4 + δ} cathode are studied. It is shown that when humid (3% water) hydrogen is supplied to the anode and air is supplied to the cathode, the maximum values of cell’s power density are 1.05 and 0.75 W/cm² at 900 and 800°С, respectively. After the introduction of praseodymium oxide and ceria into the cathode and the anode, respectively, the power density is ca. 1 W/cm² at 700°С. It is found that the power density of a cell with impregnated electrodes weakly increases with the increase in temperature to ca. 1.4 W/cm² at 900°С. The analysis of impedance spectra by the distribution of relaxation times shows that such behavior is associated with the gas-diffusion resistance of the SOFC anode. The latter is explained by the low porosity of the anode and the high rate of fuel consumption.     

Oxygen isotope exchange in praseodymium nickelate

Oxygen surface exchange kinetics and diffusion were studied in Pr₂NiO_4?+?δ (PNO) by the isotope exchange method with gas phase equilibration in the temperature range of 600–800 °C and oxygen pressure range of 0.33–1.62 kPa. The oxygen heterogeneous exchange rate (r_H), oxygen diffusion coefficient (D), rates of oxygen dissociative adsorption (r_a), and oxygen incorporation (r_i) were calculated along with the apparent activation energies of oxygen surface exchange and diffusion processes. The temperature dependence of r_H was found to benon-linear in Arrhenius coordinates. The apparent activation energy changed from 1.4?±?0.2 eV at T?>?700 °C to 2.0?±?0.1 eV. This might be attributed to the change in the rate-determining stage of oxygen exchange for Pr₂NiO_4?+?δ at T ~?700 °C, because of a shift in the ratio between r_a and r_i caused by the difference in their activation energies. Possible reasons for the observed changes in the rate-determining stage are discussed.     

Electrophoretic Deposition of Thin-Film Coatings of Solid Electrolyte Based on Microsize BaCeO<Subscript>3</Subscript> Powders

Results are presented of an electrophoretic deposition of thin-film coatings based on doped barium cerate BaCeO₃ on a cathode substrate La₂NiO₄ (LNO), which are of interest for the technology of medium-temperature solid-oxide fuel cells. Suspensions for electrophoretic deposition in a mixed dispersion medium isopropanol/acetylacetone = 70/30 vol %, prepared from microsized powders BaCe_0.8Sm_0.2O_3–δ (BCSO) and BaCe_0.89Gd_0.1Cu_0.01O_3–δ (BCGCuO) synthesized by the citrate-nitrate method, demonstrated a high positive ζ-potential (+25 mV) suitable for deposition. A combination of the ultrasonic treatment and centrifugation made it possible to diminish the hydrodynamic diameter of BCSO and BCGCuO particles to 880 and 294 nm, respectively. It was shown that the BCGCuO film deposited onto an LNO cathode substrate has a higher density as compared with the BCSO film, which is due to the properties of the suspensions obtained. Upon a cyclic electrophoretic deposition in six stages, the total mass and thickness of the BCGCuO coating were 3.2 mg cm^–2 and 5 μm, which is sufficient for a unit solid-oxide cell to be formed. According to SEM data, the BCGCuO film is dense and has fully formed grains with sizes of 1 to 7 μm. Methods are discussed for eliminating the loss of Ba in sintering of a thin film based on BaCeO₃.     

Optimization of Technology for Synthesis of Li4Ti5O12 Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry - A technique was developed for the synthesis of single-phase lithium titanate of composition Li4Ti5O12 with tetraethoxytitanium as a precursor and citric acid...     

Doped (Nd,Ba)FeO3 oxides as potential electrodes for symmetrically designed protonic ceramic electrochemical cells

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The design of new electrode materials with high redox stability has great potential for the fabrication of solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells having a...     

EIS analysis of electrode kinetics for La2NiO4 + δ cathode in contact with Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 electrolyte: from DRT analysis to physical model of the electrochemical process

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The oxygen reduction kinetics on an La2NiO4 + δ electrode for electrodes of different thicknesses was investigated by means of...     

Novel Ni cermets for anode-supported proton ceramic fuel cells

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Ni cermets have been widely investigated as anode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), particularly for those based on O2−-conducting...