Understanding surface chemical processes in perovskite oxide electrodes
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Author(s)
Skinner, Stephen
Sha, Zijie
Shen, Zonghao
Kilner, John
Cali, Eleonora
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The effect of operating conditions on the surface composition and evolution of (La0.8Sr0.2)0.95Cr0.5Fe0.5O3−δ (LSCrF8255) as a model perovskite oxide was investigated. LSCrF8255 pellets were annealed under dry oxygen (pO2 = 200 mbar), wet oxygen (pO2 = 200 mbar, pH2O = 30 mbar), and water vapour (pO2 < 1 mbar, pH2O = 30 mbar) environments to reflect the applications of perovskite materials as electrodes for oxygen reduction/evolution and H2O electrolysis in electrochemical energy conversion devices such as solid oxide fuel/electrolysis cells (SOFCs/SOECs) and oxygen transport membranes (OTMs). A series of comprehensive surface characterization techniques were applied, including low energy ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Our comprehensive study showed that after annealing at 900 °C for 27 hours, a severe level of Sr surface segregation occurred on the sample annealed in both dry oxygen and water vapour but in different manners, whereas on the sample annealed in wet oxygen, Sr segregation was likely suppressed. In addition, the Sr segregation behaviour can be correlated to other mass transport phenomena, such as Cr evaporation and redeposition and Si deposition, as well as to crystal orientation and defects such as grain boundaries and dislocations. Apart from the Sr-enriched surface precipitates, phase separation was consistently observed on the samples annealed in all three conditions. The secondary phase was found to be B-site cation enriched (significantly Fe enriched, relatively Cr enriched) and A-site cation (La and Sr) deficient. Moreover, in contrast to the Sr enriched surface, a La enriched surface was observed on samples annealed in dry oxygen at 600 and 700 °C, which was found to be potentially caused by the Sr and Cr surface evaporation processes.
Date Issued
2023-03-23
Date Acceptance
2023-02-10
Citation
Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2023, 11 (11), pp.5645-5659
ISSN
2050-7488
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Start Page
5645
End Page
5659
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume
11
Issue
11
Copyright Statement
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.
License URL
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Identifier
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/TA/D3TA00070B
Grant Number
101017709
Subjects
0303 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
0912 Materials Engineering
0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2023-02-10