Microstructural characterization and electrochemical properties of Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ and its application for anode of SOEC

Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ (BSCF) was synthesized successfully by a novel citric acid–nitrate combustion method and employed as the anode of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) for hydrogen production for the first time in this paper. The crystal structure, chemical composition and electrochemical properties of BSCF were investigated in detail. The results showed that BSCF is in good stoichiometry of Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−σ formation. ASR of BSCF/YSZ is only 0.077 Ω cm2 at 850 °C, remarkably lower than the commonly used oxygen materials LSM as well as the current focus materials LSC and LSCF. Also, BSCF electrode exhibited much better performance than LSM under both SOEC and SOFC operating modes. The hydrogen production rate of BSCF/YSZ/Ni-YSZ can be up to 147.2 mL cm−2 h−1, about three times higher than that of LSM/YSZ/Ni-YSZ, which indicates that BSCF could be a very promising candidate for the practical application of SOEC technology.