Design and Optimization of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Materials for Automotive Applications

The application of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in vehicles can greatly alleviate the energy shortage and the environmental pollution caused by fossil fuel combustion. However, when the temperature of the SOFC system decreases, the conductivity of the cathode material will decrease and the polarization impedance will increase, which will reduce the stability and selectivity of SOFCs. In this paper, a cathode material, Ca3Co4O9-δ (CCO) with high performance for automotive applications was investigated. The crystal structure and microstructure were studied by XRD and SEM. The electrochemical performance shows that the total resistance of the cell was only 0.1 Ω cm−1. CCO exhibits great potencial as SOFC cathode. The application of new types of electrode materials can not only optimize the cell performance of SOFC, but also provide new ideas for the development of automotive fuel cell technology.