Infiltrated Nanofiber-Based Nanostructured Electrodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

The feasibility and opportunity of nanostructured and defect-engineered electrodes for exceptional performance and stability of solid oxide fuel cells operating at intermediate temperatures (500–700°C) are reported in this study. The electrode is designed with infiltrated La0.4Sr0.6MnO3-δ (LSM) nanoparticles as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts on an yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) nanofiber scaffold with a controlled sintering temperature of 800–1200°C for optimized nanostructures and defect concentration of the nanofiber scaffold. Nanostructured electrode with the lowest sintering temperature of 800°C exhibits ~8.1 times higher specific surface area and ~1.6 times higher oxygen vacancy concentration than that with a sintering temperature of 1200°C. The cell with a sintering temperature of 800°C demonstrates an outstanding performance of ~2.11 and 1.09 W/cm2 at 700 and 600°C, respectively, with excellent stability for 300 h under the current density of 1.5 A/cm2 at 750°C.