Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Tuning Surface Acidity of Mixed Conducting Electrodes: Recovery of Si‐Induced Degradation of Oxygen Exchange Rate and Area Specific Resistance

Journal Article · · Advanced Materials
Abstract

Metal oxides are an important class of functional materials, and for many applications, ranging from solid oxide fuel/electrolysis cells, oxygen permeation membranes, and oxygen storage materials to gas sensors (semiconducting and electrolytic) and catalysts, the interaction between the surface and oxygen in the gas phase is central. Ubiquitous Si‐impurities are known to impede this interaction, commonly attributed to the formation of glassy blocking layers on the surface. Here, the surface oxygen exchange coefficient ( k chem ) is examined for Pr 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 2‐δ (PCO), a model mixed ionic electronic conductor, via electrical conductivity relaxation measurements, and the area‐specific resistance (ASR) by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. It is demonstrated that even low silica levels, introduced by infiltration, depress k chem by a factor 4000, while the ASR increases 40‐fold and we attribute this to its acidity relative to that of PCO. The ability to fully regenerate the poisoned surface by the subsequent addition of basic Ca‐ or Li‐species is further shown. This ability to not only recover Si‐poisoned surfaces by tuning the relative surface acidity of an oxide surface, but subsequently outperform the pre‐poisoned response, promises to extend the operating life of materials and devices for which the catalytic oxygen/solid interface reaction is central.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Air Force Office of Scientific Research; MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Ministry of Education Fellowship; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0031668
OSTI ID:
1905646
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1905648
OSTI ID: 1908559
Journal Information:
Advanced Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Materials Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 35; ISSN 0935-9648
Publisher:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English

References (55)

Non-stoichiometry in Oxide Thin Films: A Chemical Capacitance Study of the Praseodymium-Cerium Oxide System journal November 2012
Origin and Tunability of Unusually Large Surface Capacitance in Doped Cerium Oxide Studied by Ambient-Pressure X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy journal March 2016
Flexible 3D Interlocking Lithium-Ion Batteries journal September 2018
Ceria as a Thermochemical Reaction Medium for Selectively Generating Syngas or Methane from H 2 O and CO 2 journal August 2009
Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy in the Electron Microscope book January 2011
Cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells: a review journal October 2009
An overview of degradation in solid oxide fuel cells-potential clean power sources journal May 2020
Highly enhanced electrochemical performance of silicon-free platinum–yttria stabilized zirconia interfaces journal April 2008
Praseodymium-cerium oxide thin film cathodes: Study of oxygen reduction reaction kinetics journal January 2012
Silica poisoning of oxygen membranes journal October 2002
The limiting factor for oxygen exchange at the surface of fuel cell electrolytes journal January 2003
Investigation of the permeation behavior and stability of a Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3−δ oxygen membrane journal July 2000
Influence of the Discretization Methods on the Distribution of Relaxation Times Deconvolution: Implementing Radial Basis Functions with DRTtools journal December 2015
Chromium deposition and poisoning of cathodes of solid oxide fuel cells – A review journal January 2014
Effects of impurities on the degradation and long-term stability for solid oxide fuel cells journal August 2009
Recent advances in high temperature electrolysis using solid oxide fuel cells: A review journal April 2012
Solid oxide fuel cell anode degradation by the effect of siloxanes journal April 2015
Model-assisted identification of solid oxide cell elementary processes by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements journal October 2019
Selective filter for SnO-based gas sensor: application to hydrogen trace detection journal May 2005
Metal oxide-based gas sensor research: How to? journal January 2007
Highly sensitive and selective gas sensors using p-type oxide semiconductors: Overview journal March 2014
Poisoning of SOFC anodes by various fuel impurities journal September 2008
Oxygen exchange kinetics of La0.58Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 at 600°C in dry and humid atmospheres journal June 2011
Electrical conductivity relaxation measurements: Statistical investigations using sensitivity analysis, optimal experimental design and ECRTOOLS journal May 2013
Long-term degradation of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ IT-SOFC cathodes due to silicon poisoning journal May 2016
Improving the Si Impurity Tolerance of Pr 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 2−δ SOFC Electrodes with Reactive Surface Additives journal April 2015
Effect of Sr Content and Strain on Sr Surface Segregation of La 1– x Sr x Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3−δ as Cathode Material for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells journal September 2016
Factors Governing Oxygen Reduction in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes journal October 2004
Lithium Batteries and Cathode Materials journal October 2004
An acidity scale for binary oxides journal June 1987
Thermal-expansion offset for high-performance fuel cell cathodes journal March 2021
Constructing a pathway for mixed ion and electron transfer reactions for O2 incorporation in Pr0.1Ce0.9O2−x journal January 2020
Acidity of surface-infiltrated binary oxides as a sensitive descriptor of oxygen exchange kinetics in mixed conducting oxides journal October 2020
Investigation of surface Sr segregation in model thin film solid oxidefuel cell perovskite electrodes journal January 2012
An electrical conductivity relaxation study of oxygen transport in samarium doped ceria journal January 2014
Trends in electrode development for next generation solid oxide fuel cells journal January 2016
Enhanced oxygen exchange of perovskite oxide surfaces through strain-driven chemical stabilization journal January 2018
Limits to the rate of oxygen transport in mixed-conducting oxides journal January 2017
Oxygen exchange kinetics on systematically doped ceria: a pulsed isotope exchange study journal January 2019
Chemical relaxation in porous ionic–electronic conducting materials represented by the distribution of characteristic times journal January 2020
Reactivation of chromia poisoned oxygen exchange kinetics in mixed conducting solid oxide fuel cell electrodes by serial infiltration of lithia journal January 2022
Silica: ubiquitous poison of metal oxide interfaces journal January 2022
Generalised equivalent circuits for mass and charge transport: chemical capacitance and its implications journal January 2001
A piezomicrobalance system for high-temperature mass relaxation characterization of metal oxides: A case study of Pr-doped ceria journal December 2016
Materials for Intermediate-Temperature Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells journal July 2014
Reactor Flush Time Correction in Relaxation Experiments journal January 2001
Determination of Oxygen Vacancy Concentration in a Thin Film of La[sub 0.6]Sr[sub 0.4]CoO[sub 3−δ] by an Electrochemical Method journal January 2002
Silicon Contamination of the Praseodymium Doped Ceria Oxygen Surface Exchange Coefficient journal October 2021
The Influence of Cr-Additives on the Polarization Resistance of Praseodymium-Doped Ceria Cathodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells journal April 2022
Detailed Electrochemical Study on Nanoscaled La 0.6 Sr 0.4 CoO 3-δ SOFC Thin-Film Cathodes in Dry, Humid and CO 2 -Containing Atmospheres journal January 2013
Interplay of Grain Size Dependent Electronic and Ionic Conductivity in Electrochemical Polarization Studies on Sr-Doped LaMnO3(LSM) Thin Film Cathodes journal January 2018
Evaluation of electrochemical impedance spectra by the distribution of relaxation times journal January 2017
Solid Oxide Electrochemical Systems: Material Degradation Processes and Novel Mitigation Approaches journal November 2018
Impact of Siloxanes in Biomethane on the Performance of a CNG Vehicle journal February 2018
Poisoning of Zirconia Exhaust Oxygen Sensors by Silica conference February 1986