Synthesis and electrical properties of strontium-doped lanthanum ferrite with perovskite-type structure

Abstract In this study, we prepared strontium-doped lanthanum ferrites with the perovskite-type structure for application as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathodes. We used the Pechini method to prepare strontium-doped lanthanum ferrites with the strontium:lanthanum molar ratios of 20:80 and 40:60. The resulting doped materials were characterized using various analytical tools. The calcination process was conducted at 450 °C because above this temperature, the stabilization of mass loss occurred and no phase transformation was observed. The X-ray diffraction results confirmed the mixing of the powder phases after the calcination process and the presence of a single powder phase in the air-sintered samples. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy results revealed the presence of agglomerated nanoparticles smaller than 20 nm in size in the samples. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results revealed that the sample with 20% strontium exhibited a conductivity of 3.9 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 95 °C and activation energy of 0.37 eV. In contrast, the sample with 40% strontium exhibited a conductivity of 3.5 × 10−2 S cm−1 and activation energy of 0.29 eV. These results suggest that with an increase in the strontium content, the conductivity of the samples increased, where as the activation energy of the conduction process decreased. Therefore, the ferrites synthesized in this work are potential catalysts for SOFC cathodes.