Infiltrated lanthanum strontium chromite anodes for solid oxide fuel cells: Structural and catalytic aspects

Infiltration is a widely used fabrication method for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) composite electrodes. Here we report a study of the structure and electrocatalytic properties of SOFC anodes composed of a layer of lanthanum, strontium chromite (La0.8Sr0.2CrO3, LSCr), both with and without added transition metal dopants, infiltrated into a porous yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) matrix. The structural evolution of the electrode upon reduction and under typical SOFC operating conditions is compared to that reported previously for La0.8Sr0.2Cr0.5Mn0.5O3-YSZ composite anodes. For the transition metal doped materials, a portion of the metal dopants were found to be exsolved from the LSCr lattice upon reduction and to be effective in promoting electro-oxidation of hydrogen. Exsolved cobalt particles were also found to be relatively stable when exposed to hydrocarbon fuels with low activity for the formation of carbon deposits.