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Enhanced performance and endurance of nano-porous platinum solid oxide fuel cell electrodes by oxygen partial pressure cycling

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Abstract

We demonstrate that alternating the oxygen partial pressure gradient across a yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte membrane prior to solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) testing with nanoporous Pt electrodes greatly increases (e.g. by >70-fold at 350 °C) peak power density compared with devices without pretreatment. Transiently altering the oxygen activity at the cathode–YSZ interface appears to change the wetting characteristics of the nanoporous Pt, significantly affecting the stability and low-temperature performance of the SOFCs. Image analysis and impedance spectroscopy results suggest that an increase in triple-phase boundary area fraction at the cathode–YSZ interface contributes to the observed effect.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. F.B. Prinz and his group at Stanford University for access to their Pt sputtering system. This research was supported in part by the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Cynthia N. Ginestra & Paul C. McIntyre

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  1. Cynthia N. Ginestra
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  2. Paul C. McIntyre
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Correspondence to Paul C. McIntyre.

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For supplementary material for this article, please visit {rs|http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2013.25|url|}

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Ginestra, C.N., McIntyre, P.C. Enhanced performance and endurance of nano-porous platinum solid oxide fuel cell electrodes by oxygen partial pressure cycling. MRS Communications 3, 123–128 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2013.25

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