Evaluation of porous platinum, nickel, and lanthanum strontium cobaltite as electrode materials for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

Porous Pt, Ni, and lanthanum strontium cobaltite (LSC) are evaluated as electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells at the low temperature range under 500 degrees C. Porous metal electrodes 150 nm thick are prepared by sputtering. Porous LSC was deposited to a typical thickness of 1.5 mu m by pulsed laser deposition as the cathode. In terms of fuel cell performance, we confirm that Pt is the best material for both the cathode and the anode under 400 degrees C, but LSC outperforms Pt as a cathode at temperatures over 450 degrees C in our configurations. Porous Ni anode is identified as being less effective than the porous Pt. It is determined that these results are closely related to the differences in electrode performance and to morphological changes during fuel cell operation. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.