A promising high-performance lanthanum ferrite-based composite cathode for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

•An A-site deficient lanthanum-ferrite and ceria composite cathode is introduced.•Low polarization resistivity (0.03 Ωcm2 at 700 °C) is observed.•The polarization resistivity of the composite is stable for 300 h.

Big obstacles for the common availability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are the electrochemical performance and durability of cathode materials. Here, we introduce an A-site deficient lanthanum-ferrite (La0.55Sr0.35Co0.2Fe0.8O3) and ceria (Ce0.8Sm0.15Nd0.05O2) composite cathode being content with those criteria. At 700 °C, the polarization resistivity of the cathode on zirconia with a ceria buffer layer is 0.03 Ωcm2, which delivers a high power output of ~ 1.16 W/cm2 in the single cell with zirconia solid electrolyte. The polarization resistivity exhibits stable performance for 300 h.