Ionic Conduction and Fuel Cell Performance of Ba0.97Ce0.8Ho0.2O3-α Ceramic

The perovskite-type-oxide solid solution Ba0.97Ce0.8Ho0.2O3-α was prepared by high temperature solidstate reaction and its single-phase character was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The ionic conduction of the sample was investigated using electrical methods at elevated temperatures, and the performance of the hydrogen-air fuel cell using the sample as solid electrolyte was measured, which were compared with those of BaCe0.8Ho0.2O3 - α. In wet hydrogen, BaCe0.8 Ho0.2 O3 - α almost exhibits pure protonic conduction at 600-1000 ℃, and its protonic transport number is 1 at 600-900 ℃ and 0.99 at 1000 ℃. Similarly,Ba0.97Ce0.8Ho0.2O3-α exhibits pure protonic conduction with the protonic transport number of 1 at 600-700 ℃, but its protonic conduction is slightly lower than that of BaCe0.8Ho0.2O3-α, and the protonic transport number are 0.99-0.96 at 800-1000 ℃. In wet air, the two samples both show low protonic and oxide ionic conduction. For Ba0.97Ce0.8Ho0.2O3-α, the protonic and oxide ionic transport numbers are 0.01-0.11 and 0.30-0.31 respectively, and for BaCe0.8Ho0.2O3-α, 0.01-0.09 and 0.27-0.33 respectively. Ionic conductivities of Ba0.97Ce0.8Ho0.2O3-α are higher than those of BaCe0.8Ho0.2O3-α under wet hydrogen and wet air. The performance of the fuel cell using Ba0.97Ce0.8Ho0.2O3-α as solid electrolyte is better than that of BaCe0.8Ho0.2O3-α. At 1000 ℃, its maximum short-circuit current density and power output density are 465 mA/cm2 and 112 mW/cm2, respectively.