Novel perovskite-spinel composite conductive ceramics for SOFC cathode contact layer

Abstract Perovskite-spinel composite conductive ceramics are developed for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode contact layer. The precursor of the composite materials includes micron-sized La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3 (LSCF) perovskite particles coated by the reduced nano-sized Mn 0.9 Y 0.1 Co 2 O 4 (MYC) spinel material, and then it is sintered in-situ to obtain perovskite-spinel composites. The sintering activity of the composites is enhanced by using the reduced spinel powders. The conductive performance of the composite materials is effectively improved due to the high conductivity of perovskite LSCF particles utilized. Measured at 750 ο C under constant current density of 400 mA/cm 2 , after running 200 h, the area specific resistance (ASR) value of cathode contact layer remains relatively stable at around 5.4 mΩ cm 2 . The developed LSCF-MYC composite as cathode contact layer presents good bonding strength with both cathode and interconnection, and shows obviously low contact resistance and high stability.