In order to accelerate the commercialization of SOFCs technology, the key is the development of high performance cathode materials operated at intermediate temperature. Sr and Cu doped rare earth oxide La1-xSrxFe1-yCu.yO3-δ (x=0.1, 0.3 ; y=0.1, 0.2, denoted as LSFCu-11, LSFCu-31 and LSFCu-32 ) were synthesized by solid state reaction method (SSR). The formation process, phase structure and microstructure of the synthesized samples were characterized using TG/DSC, XRD and SEM. The thermal expansion coefficients (TEC) of the samples were analyzed by thermal dilatometry. The electrical conductivities of the samples were measured with DC four-terminal method from 25 to 950 °C. The results indicate that the samples exhibit a single phase with orthorhombic and hexagonal perovskite structure after sintered at 1200 °C for 4h. The electrical conductivity of the samples increases with temperature up to a maximum value, and then decreases gradually. The small polaron hopping is regarded as the conducting mechanism for synthesized samples at T 550 °C. The negative temperature dependence occurring at higher temperature is due to the creation of oxygen vacancies for charge balance. LSFCu-32 has higher mixed conductivity (> 100 S·cm-1) at intermediate temperature and can meet the demand of cathode material for IT-SOFC. In addition, the average TECs of LSFCu-11, LSFCu-31 and LSFCu-32 are 1.22 × 10-6 K-1 , 1.30 × 10-6 K-1 and 1.34 × 10-6 K-1 respectively.
Modulation of Mixed Conductivity in Nanocrystalline Electrolytes by
Heterogeneous Doping
