Redox-Reversible Electrode Material for Direct Hydrocarbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Peng Qiu; Xin Yang; Wanhua Wang; Tong Wei; Yanying Lu; Jie Lin; Zhihao Yuan; Lichao Jia; Jian Li; Fanglin Chen

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c00922

Redox-Reversible Electrode Material for Direct Hydrocarbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Mar 25;12(12):13988-13995. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c00922. Epub 2020 Mar 15.

Authors

Peng Qiu¹, Xin Yang¹, Wanhua Wang¹, Tong Wei², Yanying Lu¹, Jie Lin¹, Zhihao Yuan³, Lichao Jia², Jian Li², Fanglin Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, United States.
² Center for Fuel Cell Innovation, School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Lab of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China.

PMID: 32149494
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c00922

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can directly operate on hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas; however, the widely used nickel-based anodes face grand challenges such as coking, sulfur poisoning, and redox instability. We report a novel double perovskite oxide Sr₂Co_0.4Fe_1.2Mo_0.4O_6-δ (SCFM) that possesses excellent redox reversibility and can be used as both the cathode and the anode. When heat-treated at 900 °C in a reducing environment, double perovskite phase SCFM transforms into a composite of the Ruddlesden-Popper structured oxide Sr₃Co_0.1Fe_1.3Mo_0.6O_7-δ (RP-SCFM) with the Co-Fe alloy nanoparticles homogeneously distributed on the surface of RP-SCFM. At 900 °C in an oxidizing atmosphere, the composite transforms back into the double perovskite phase SCFM. The excellent oxygen reduction reaction catalytic activity and mixed ionic-electronic conductivity make SCFM an excellent cathode material for SOFCs. When SCFM is used as the anode, excellent performance and stability are achieved upon either direct oxidation of methane as a fuel or operation with sulfur-containing fuels. The excellent redox reversibility coupled with outstanding electrical and catalytic properties manifested by SCFM will enable a broad application in energy conversion applications.

Keywords: Ruddlesden−Popper; alloy nanoparticles; double perovskite; hydrocarbon fuels; redox reversibility.