Ba(Ce,Zr)O₃-based electrodes for protonic ceramic electrochemical cells: towards highly compatible functionality and triple-conducting behaviour

TLDR

Protonic ceramic fuel and electrolysis cells offer high efficiency and low environmental impact, yet chemical and thermal incompatibilities of functional materials limit long‑term operation and scaling, though Ba(Ce,Zr)O₃‑based fragments provide superior chemical compatibility. The study reviews barium cerate/zirconate‑based electrode materials and explores their potential as triple‑conducting components to enhance electrochemical surface area for high‑performance protonic ceramic fuel and electrolysis cells. The authors evaluate the chemical stability, thermal expansion, and transport properties of the electrodes, linking these characteristics to their electrochemical performance. The article cites 208 references.

Abstract

Protonic ceramic fuel cells and electrolysis cells represent low- and intermediate-temperature electrochemical devices, which allow chemical-to-electrical energy conversion with very high efficiency and low environmental impact. In order to ensure the long-term operability of these devices, as well as to provide for their up-scaling, a number of existing challenges associated with chemical and thermal incompatibilities pertaining to the functional materials remain to be overcome. This work presents a comprehensive overview of new electrode materials based on barium cerate/zirconate. The structural fragments of these materials are similar to those of the proton-conducting Ba(Ce,Zr)O 3 electrolytes, which causes superior chemical compatibility between different functional materials. The primary emphasis of the research is on the functional properties of these materials such as chemical stability, thermal expansion behaviour and transport features. This in turn determines the electrochemical performance of the designed electrodes. In addition, the possibility of obtaining triple-conducting materials is discussed as means of designing electrodes with a high electrochemical active surface area required for the design of high-performance protonic ceramic fuel and electrolysis cells. The bibliography includes 208 references.