Layered LiCoO2-LiFeO2 Heterostructure Composite for Semiconductor-Based Fuel Cells

Yanyan Liu; Chen Xia; Baoyuan Wang; Yongfu Tang

doi:10.3390/nano11051224

Layered LiCoO_2-LiFeO₂ Heterostructure Composite for Semiconductor-Based Fuel Cells

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 May 6;11(5):1224. doi: 10.3390/nano11051224.

Authors

Yanyan Liu¹, Chen Xia², Baoyuan Wang², Yongfu Tang¹

Affiliations

¹ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 064004, China.
² Faculty of Physics and Electronic Science, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China.

Abstract

Enabling fast ionic transport at a low-temperature range (400-600 °C) is of great importance to promoting the development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In this study, a layer-structured LiCoO₂-LiFeO₂ heterostructure composite is explored for the low-temperature (LT) SOFCs. Fuel cell devices with different configurations are fabricated to investigate the multifunction property of LiCoO₂-LiFeO₂ heterostructure composites. The LiCoO₂-LiFeO₂ composite is employed as a cathode in conventional SOFCs and as a semiconductor membrane layer in semiconductor-based fuel cells (SBFCs). Enhanced ionic conductivity is realized by a composite of LiCoO₂-LiFeO₂ and Sm³⁺ doped ceria (SDC) electrolyte in SBFC. All these designed fuel cell devices display high open-circuit voltages (OCVs), along with promising cell performance. An improved power density of 714 mW cm^-2 is achieved from the new SBFC device, compared to the conventional fuel cell configuration with LiCoO₂-LiFeO₂ as the cathode (162 mW cm^-2 at 550 °C). These findings reveal promising multifunctional layered oxides for developing high-performance LT-SOFCs.

Keywords: LiCoO2–LiFeO2; heterostructure composite; high performance; semiconductor-based fuel cell.

Abstract

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