Electrical conductivity, thermal expansion and electrochemical performances of Ba-doped SrCo0.9Nb0.1O3−δ cathodes for IT-SOFCs

•BaxSr1−xCo0.9Nb0.1O3−δ (BSCNx) was investigated as cathode for IT-SOFC.•Ba doping improved chemical compatibility between BSCNx and GDC.•Ba doping decreased thermal expansion coefficient and polarization resistance.•The x = 0.6 sample exhibited the best electrochemical performance.

Perovskite-type oxides BaxSr1−xCo0.9Nb0.1O3−δ (BSCNx, x = 0.0–0.8) were synthesized and investigated as cathodes for IT-SOFCs. Ba doping improves chemical compatibility between BSCNx oxides and Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (GDC) electrolyte. Effects of Ba doping on electrical conductivity, thermal expansion and electrochemical performances were systematically elucidated and discussed. Both thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) and polarization resistance (Rp) decrease with increasing Ba doping level up to x = 0.6, attain a minimum at x = 0.6 and then increase with further increasing x > 0.6. The decrease of TEC with the incorporation of Ba can be attributed to the weakened chemical expansion and the decrease of Rp with Ba is due to the increase of oxygen vacancy concentration and oxygen vacancy diffusion coefficient. With a 300 μm-thick GDC as electrolyte and BSCN0.6 as the cathode, the maximum power density of a single-cell achieves 778 mW cm−2 at 800 °C. All these results indicate that the BSCN0.6 oxide is a promising cathode material for IT-SOFC.