Simultaneous Performance and Stability Enhancement in Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Powder-Atomic Layer Deposited LSCF@ZrO2 Cathodes

Sung Eun Jo; SungHyun Jeon; Hyong June Kim; Byung Chan Yang; Kyoungjae Ju; Turgut M Gür; WooChul Jung; Jihwan An

doi:10.1002/smtd.202300790

Simultaneous Performance and Stability Enhancement in Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Powder-Atomic Layer Deposited LSCF@ZrO₂ Cathodes

Small Methods. 2024 Jan;8(1):e2300790. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202300790. Epub 2023 Sep 25.

Authors

Sung Eun Jo¹, SungHyun Jeon², Hyong June Kim³, Byung Chan Yang⁴, Kyoungjae Ju¹, Turgut M Gür⁵, WooChul Jung², Jihwan An¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-ro, Pohang, 37673, South Korea.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, South Korea.
³ Department of Nano-Bio Engineering, Research Institute of Energy and Environment, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 01811, South Korea.
⁴ Energy Materials Research Center Clean Energy Research Division, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), 5 Hwarang-ro 14-gil, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.

PMID: 37749956
DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202300790

Abstract

Employing porous structures is essential in high-performance electrochemical energy devices. However, obtaining uniform functional coatings on high-tortuosity structures can be challenging, even with specialized processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD). Herein, a novel method for achieving a porous composite electrode for solid oxide fuel cells by coating La_0.6 Sr_0.4 Co_0.2 Fe_0.8 O₃ -δ (LSCF) powders with ZrO₂ using a powder ALD process is presented. Unlike conventional ALD, powder ALD can be used to fabricate extremely uniform coatings on porous electrodes with a thickness of tens of micrometers. The powder ALD ZrO₂ coating is found to effectively suppress chemical degradation of the LSCF electrodes. The cell with the powder ALD coated cathode shows a 2.2 times higher maximum power density and 60% lower thermal degradation in activation resistance than the bare LSCF cathode cell at 700-750 °C. The result demonstrated in this study is expected to have significant implications for high-performance and durable electrodes in energy conversion/storage devices.

Keywords: LSCF(La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ); atomic layer deposition; cathodes; powder; solid oxide fuel cells.

Abstract

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