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DOE OSTI · 1812515

An Efficient Bifunctional Air Electrode for Reversible Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cells

Zhou, Yucun·Zhang, Weilin·Kane, Nicholas·Luo, Zheyu·Pei, Kai·Sasaki, Kotaro·Choi, YongMan·Chen, Yu·Ding, Dong·Liu, Meilin
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Abstract

One of the main bottlenecks that limits the performance of reversible protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (R-PCECs) is the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR and OER). Here, the significantly enhanced ORR and OER kinetics and stability of a conventional La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3-δ (LSCF) air electrode by an efficient catalyst coating of barium cobaltite (BCO) is reported. The polarization resistance of a BCO-coated LSCF air electrode at 600 oC is 0.16 Ω cm 2 , about 30% of that of the bare LSCF air electrode under the same conditions. Further, a R-PCEC with the BCO-coated LSCF air electrode shows exceptional performance in both fuel cell (maximum power density of 1.16 W cm -2 at 600 ºC) and electrolysis (current density of 1.80 A cm -2 at 600 ºC at 1.3 V) modes. Finally, the performance enhancement is attributed mainly to the facilitated rate of oxygen surface exchange.

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATIONair electrodesoxygen evolution reactionoxygen reduction reactionprotonic ceramic electrochemical cellswater electrolysis

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Zhou, Yucun, Zhang, Weilin, Kane, Nicholas, Luo, Zheyu, Pei, Kai, Sasaki, Kotaro, Choi, YongMan, Chen, Yu, Ding, Dong, Liu, Meilin. 2021-07-12. An Efficient Bifunctional Air Electrode for Reversible Protonic Ceramic Electrochemical Cells. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202105386

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