Cobalt-Free Double Perovskite Oxide as a Promising Cathode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Double perovskite oxide PrBaFe2O5+δ is a potential cathode material for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. To improve its electrochemical performance, the trivalent element Ga is investigated to partially replace Fe, forming PrBaFe2–x Ga x O5+δ (PBFGx, x = 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15). The doping effects on physicochemical properties and electrochemical properties are analyzed regarding the phase structures, element valence states, amount of oxygen vacancies, content of oxygen species, oxygen surface exchange coefficients (k chem), electrochemical polarization resistance, and single-cell performance. Specifically, PBFG0.1 exhibits improved k chem, such as a 19% improvement from 4.09 × 10–4 to 4.86 × 10–4 cm s–1 at 750 °C, due to the increased concentration of reactive oxygen species and oxygen vacancies. Consequently, the interfacial polarization resistance is decreased by 28% from 0.057 to 0.041 Ω cm2 at 800 °C. The subreaction steps of the oxygen reduction reaction in the PBFG0.1 cathode are further investigated, which suggests that the oxygen dissociation process is greatly enhanced by doping Ga. Meanwhile, doping Ga increases the peak power density of the anode-supported single cell by 36% from 629 to 856 mW cm–2 at 800 °C. The single cell with the PBFG0.1 cathode also exhibits good stability in 100 h of long-term operation at 750 °C.