Silver infiltrated La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 cathodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Porous La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF) electrodes on anode support cells were infiltrated with AgNO3 solutions in citric acid and ethylene glycol. Two types of solid oxide fuel cells with the LSCF–Ag cathode, Ni–YSZ/YSZ/LSCF–Ag and Ni–Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95(GDC)/GDC/LSCF–Ag, were examined in a temperature range 530–730 °C under air oxidant and moist hydrogen fuel. The infiltration of about 18 wt.% Ag fine particles into LSCF resulted in the enhancement of the power density of about 50%. The maximum power density of Ni–YSZ/YSZ/LSCF was enhanced from 0.16 W cm−2 to 0.25 W cm−2 at 630 °C by infiltration of AgNO3. No significant degradation of out-put power was observed for 150 h at 0.7 V and 700 °C. The Ni–GDC/GDC/LSCF–Ag cell showed the maximum power density of 0.415 W cm−2 at 530 °C.