Structural and electrochemical study of Ba_0.15Cu_0.15Ni_0.10Zn_0.60 oxide anode for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell

Fuel cell technology is conquering much attraction in advanced energy conversion technologies due to the highest efficiency and environment friendly features. However, the high working temperature of solid oxide fuel cell is a major obstacle to launch this technology as marketable. In this context, Ba_0.15Cu_0.15Ni_0.10Zn_0.60 oxide material has been reported as anode material and prepared via sol-gel technique. The structural analysis and surface morphology are studied through X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), respectively. The average particle size was calculated to be 231 nm. The asymmetrical three layers cell was fabricated for testing of fuel cell performance. The prepared cell was tested between 450 and 650 °C of temperature range with hydrogen fuel. The highest conductivity and power density were achieved to be 10.4 Scm⁻¹ and 350 mWcm⁻², respectively. The activation energy was found to be 0.12 eV. The prepared material showed fairly reliable power density at lower operating temperature that make it good candidate for LT-SOFC anode.