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Proton Conduction and Electrochemical Performance of La/Pr co-Doped Ceria Electrolyte in Ceramic Fuel Cell

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Abstract

La/Pr co-doped ceria (LCP) is processed to fabricate low-temperature ceramic fuel cell based on industrial-grade rare-earth carbonate electrolyte that is reached above a maximum power density of 750 mW/cm2 at 520 °C. The charge carriers are investigated through LCP fuel cell having symmetric NCAL (Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05LiO2-δ) electrodes using proton conductor BCZY (BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.2O3-δ) as a blocking layer and are found protons that dominate during the cell operation. The results of associated characterizations for HCC (hydrogen concentration cell) and the OCC (oxygen concentration cell) reveal that LCP material is mixed conductor of both protons and oxygen ions simultaneously. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis before and after the electrochemical testing of the cell are performed which show an amorphous layer of LiOH/Li2CO3 mixture that is formed after the tests on the surface of LCP structure. Conceptually, it looks that LiOH/Li2CO3 mixture in molten state in the interface region of two-phase material promotes the proton conduction through LCP electrolyte, with negligible oxygen ion conduction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No.3203002205A1 and 4003002204) and Jiangsu Provincial program (Project No. JSSCRC2021491).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Solar Energy Science and Technology/Energy Storage Joint Research Center, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Xinlei Yang, Fan Yang & Wanli Sun

  2. Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 10044, Stockholm, SE, Sweden

    Muhammad Afzal

  3. Sino-French Engineer School/School of General Engineering, Beihang University, 37 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China

    Jung-Sik Kim

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Yang, X., Yang, F., Afzal, M. et al. Proton Conduction and Electrochemical Performance of La/Pr co-Doped Ceria Electrolyte in Ceramic Fuel Cell. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 11, 449–461 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-023-00532-5

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