A Perovskite Nanocomposite and Self-Assembled Nanoparticle-Decorated Cathode for Low Temperature SOFCS

One-pot route synthesis of an A-site Sm-doped simple perovskite with nominal composition Sm0.10Ba0.90Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ leads to a novel perovskite nanocomposite containing ∼90% A-site cation deficient cubic simple perovskite Ba0.925(Co/Fe)0.962Sm0.038O3−δ and ∼10% orthorhombic layered perovskite SmBa(Co/Fe)2O5+δ. The synergy of the two phases in the nanocomposite results in high electrochemical kinetic properties at low temperatures. With the novel perovskite nanocomposite, a surface nanoparticle-decorated nanocomposite cathode is self-assembled through a one-step sintering process. The corresponding anode-supported cell delivers a peak power density of 1271 mW cm−2 at 650 °C. The cell also demonstrates long-term stability (∼333 h) under a current load of 600 mA cm−2 and shows short-term stability (∼16 h) under an alternating large current load between 600 and 1700 mA cm−2 at 600 °C. The novel perovskite nanocomposite developed in this paper is among the best in open literature for cathodes of low temperature SOFCs.