Facile wet-chemical synthesis and evaluation of physico-chemical characteristics of novel nanocrystalline NdCoO3-based perovskite oxide as cathode for LT-SOFC applications

The material characteristics study of nanocrystalline cathode from perovskite family for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LT-SOFC) application was reported in this study. The nanocrystalline perovskite with composition of Nd0.90Sr0.10Co0.90Fe0.10O3–δ (NSCFO) was prepared using cost-effective, simple, room temperature chemical precipitation method. The phase characterization was studied using X-ray powder diffraction analysis, which shows single fluorite cubic phase structure, wherein nanocrystallinity is retained (crystallite size 17.5 nm). The metal oxide bond was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared characterization. The surface morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy, which exhibits distorted cubic structure with agglomerations with size of about ~300 nm, which coincides with particle size data. The elemental composition was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis mapping. The electrical behaviour of NSCFO composition was studied and the Nyquist plot exhibits the conductivity of 1.37 × 10–1 S cm–1 at 600°C with the activation energy of 0.355 eV. The acquired physical and electrochemical characterization results were scrutinized in order to use the materials as an efficient cathode in LT-SOFC.