La and Al co-doped CaMnO3 perovskite oxides: From interplay of surface properties to anion exchange membrane fuel cell performance

This work reports the first account of perovskite oxide and carbon composite oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts integrated into anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). Perovskite oxides with a theoretical stoichiometry of Ca0.9La0.1Al0.1Mn0.9O3-δ are synthesized by an aerogel method and calcined at various temperatures, resulting in a set of materials with varied surface chemistry and surface area. Material composition is evaluated by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The perovskite oxide calcined at 800 °C shows the importance of balance between surface area, purity of the perovskite phase, and surface composition, resulting in the highest ORR mass activity when evaluated in rotating disk electrodes. Integration of this catalyst into AEMFCs reveals that the best AEMFC performance is obtained when using composites with 30:70 perovskite oxide:carbon composition. Doubling the loading leads to an increase in the power density from 30 to 76 mW cm−2. The AEMFC prepared with a composite based on perovskite oxide and N-carbon achieves a power density of 44 mW cm−2, demonstrating an ∼50% increase when compared to the highest performing composite with undoped carbon at the same loading.