La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ nanofiber cathode for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells by water-based sol-gel electrospinning: Synthesis and electrochemical behaviour

Water-based sol-gel electrospinning is employed to manufacture perovskite oxide La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF) nanofiber cathodes for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. LSCF fibrous scaffolds are synthesized through electrospinning of a sol-gel solution employing water as the only solvent. Morphological characterizations demonstrate that the LSCF fibers have highly crystalline structure with uniform elemental distribution. After heat treatment, the average fiber diameter is 250 nm and the porosity of the nanofiber tissue is 37.5 %. The heat treated LSCF nanofibers are applied directly onto a Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (CGO) electrolyte disk to form a symmetrical cell. Electrochemical characterization is carried out through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the temperature range 550 °C–950 °C, and reproducibility of the electrochemical performance for a series of cells is demonstrated. At 650 °C, the average measured polarization resistance Rp is 1.0 Ω cm2. Measured performance decay is 1 % during the first 33 h of operation at 750 °C, followed by an additional 0.7 % over the subsequent 70 h.