Enhancing the electrical performance of solid oxide fuel cell cathodes through controlled calcination temperature of La0.3Sr0.7Ti0.3Fe0.7O3-δ
摘要
This study investigates the effect of calcination temperature on the electrical performance of lanthanum strontium titanate ferrite (LSTF) as a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode material. The LSTF precursor was calcined at temperatures ranging from 900 °C to 1200 °C and transformed into inks, which were then applied on both sides of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) pellet to form a symmetrical cell. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results revealed that a minimum temperature of 900 °C was required to obtain the final product, and the calcination process showed three stages of decomposition. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis on LSTF powders showed similar peaks to those in previous literature, but traces of precursor peaks were observed in the samples calcined at 900 °C and 1000 °C, indicating incomplete transformation. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to measure the electrical performance of the LSTF cathode material. The results showed that the optimum calcination temperature was 1100 °C, which resulted in the lowest polarisation resistance (Rp). Lower calcination temperatures led to incomplete transformation, which caused an increase in Rp. Conversely, higher calcination temperatures produced larger crystallite sizes, leading to a higher Rp. Overall, the findings suggest that the calcination temperature significantly affects the electrical performance of LSTF as a SOFC cathode material, and the optimum temperature for calcination is 1100 °C. A buffer layer and a current-collecting layer are added to further enhance the electrical performance of the LSTF symmetrical cell.