Layered licoo2–lifeo2 heterostructure composite for semiconductor-based fuel cells

Abstract

Enabling fast ionic transport at a low-temperature range (400–600◦C) is of great importance to promoting the development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In this study, a layer-structured LiCoO2–LiFeO2 heterostructure composite is explored for the low-temperature (LT) SOFCs. Fuel cell devices with different configurations are fabricated to investigate the multifunction property of LiCoO2–LiFeO2 heterostructure composites. The LiCoO2–LiFeO2 composite is employed as a cathode in conventional SOFCs and as a semiconductor membrane layer in semiconductor-based fuel cells (SBFCs). Enhanced ionic conductivity is realized by a composite of LiCoO2–LiFeO2 and Sm3+ doped ceria (SDC) electrolyte in SBFC. All these designed fuel cell devices display high open-circuit voltages (OCVs), along with promising cell performance. An improved power density of 714 mW cm−2 is achieved from the new SBFC device, compared to the conventional fuel cell configuration with LiCoO2–LiFeO2 as the cathode (162 mW cm−2 at 550◦C). These findings reveal promising multifunctional layered oxides for developing high-performance LT–SOFCs.