Novel Perovskite Structured Nd0.5Ba0.5Co1/3Ni1/3Mn1/3O3-δ as Highly Efficient Catalyst for Oxygen Electrode in Solid Oxide Electrochemical Cells

Abstract

Developing catalytic materials with highly efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is essential for lower-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and electrolysis cell (SOEC) technologies. In this work, a novel triple perovskite material, Nd_0.5Ba_0.5Co_1/3Ni_1/3Mn_1/3O_3-δ, has been developed and employed as a catalyst for both ORR and OER in SOFC and SOEC operations at relatively lower temperatures, showing a low polarization resistance of 0.327 Ω cm², high-power output of SOFC up to 773 mW cm^-2 at 650 °C, and a high current density of 1.57 A cm^-2 from SOEC operation at 1.5 V at 600 °C. The relaxation time distribution reveals that Nd_0.5Ba_0.5Co_1/3Ni_1/3Mn_1/3O_3-δ could maintain a slow polarization process at the relatively low operating temperature, offering a significant antipolarization advantage over other perovskite electrode materials. The Nd_0.5Ba_0.5Co_1/3Ni_1/3Mn_1/3O_3-δ electrode provides a low energy barrier of about 0.36 eV in oxygen ion mobility, which is beneficent for oxygen reduction/evolution reaction processes.

Keywords: oxygen evolution reaction; oxygen reduction reaction; perovskite electrode; solid oxide electrolysis cell; solid oxide fuel cell.