TY - JOUR

T1 - Theoretical and experimental explored tailored hybrid H+/O2– ions conduction: Bridged for high performance fuel cell and water electrolysis

AU - Tayyab, Zuhra

AU - Rauf, Sajid

AU - Hanif, Muhammad Bilal

AU - Ahmad Qazi, Hafiz Imran

AU - Mushtaq, Naveed

AU - Motola, Martin

AU - Yun, Sining

AU - Xia, Chen

AU - Medvedev, Dmitry A.

AU - Asghar, Imran Asghar

AU - Alodhayb, Abdullah N.

AU - Arshad Zahir, Hussain

AU - Muhammad, K. Majeed

AU - Rashid, Iqbal

AU - Adil, Saleem

AU - Wei, Xu

AU - Yatao, Yang

N1 - The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32250410309, 52105582, and 12004103), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2020A1515011555 and 2022B0303040002), High-Talent Research Funding (827-000451), Fundamental Research Foundation of Shenzhen (JCYJ20210324095210030 and JCYJ20220818095810023) and Open Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology (DMETKF2021016) supported this research. Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2020CFB414). Dr. M.-I. Asghar thanks the Hubei overseas Talent 100 program (as a distinguished Professor at Hubei University). We are also greatly thankful to Dr. Ruoming Wang, Dr. Zhiguo Wang, Dr. Rou Feng and Dr. Tianxiang Yang, Functional Materials Laboratory (FML), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710055, China, for providing suggestions and potential corrections to our manuscript. The authors also appreciate the help from the Electron Microscopy Center and Instrumental Analysis Center of Shenzhen University. The authors extend their appreciation to the Deputyship for Research and Innovation, Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia for supporting one part of this research work through the project no. (IFKSUOR3-099-7).

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - A hybrid proton and oxide ion (H+/O2–) conducting electrolyte transports ions in multiple ways can operate at lower operating temperatures than a pure oxide ion conductor in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Here, a novel hybrid H+/O2– conductor is developed based on Ba0.5Sr0.5Zr0.9Y0.1O3-δ (BSZY) by Gd3+ doping. The Ba0.5Sr0.5Zr0.9-xGdxY0.1O3-δ (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) electrolytes are modeled to construct crystal structures by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and subsequently synthesized, followed by physicochemical characterizations. The corresponding BSZGdxY electrolyte-based SOFCs are fabricated and investigated in terms of I-V characteristics, electrochemical impedance spectra, and durable operation. It is found Gd3+doping significantly enriches the oxygen vacancies and enhance the ionic conductivity of BSZGdxY. The DFT calculations provide evidence of high oxygen vacancies formation with the optimal doping of Gd with x = 0.1. Among the three samples, the Ba0.5Sr0.5Zr0.8Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ (BSZGd0.1Y) electrolyte exhibits the highest fuel cell power density of 805 mW cm−2, hybrid H+/O2– conductivity of 0.17 S cm−1, and stable operation for 67 h at 520 °C. Further study finds that the BSZGd0.1Y electrolyte-based fuel cell can be operated under water electrolysis mode, revealing a high current density of 2.37 A cm−2 under 1.5 V at 520 °C. Moreover, the impact of Gd doping is studied in terms of electronic structure and energy bands investigated with the help of DFT calculations and the Schottky junction effect of the cell for electron blocking is investigated. This work demonstrates an efficient way to explore hybrid H+/O2– conduction in BSZY for high-performance SOFC and water electrolysis. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

AB - A hybrid proton and oxide ion (H+/O2–) conducting electrolyte transports ions in multiple ways can operate at lower operating temperatures than a pure oxide ion conductor in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Here, a novel hybrid H+/O2– conductor is developed based on Ba0.5Sr0.5Zr0.9Y0.1O3-δ (BSZY) by Gd3+ doping. The Ba0.5Sr0.5Zr0.9-xGdxY0.1O3-δ (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) electrolytes are modeled to construct crystal structures by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and subsequently synthesized, followed by physicochemical characterizations. The corresponding BSZGdxY electrolyte-based SOFCs are fabricated and investigated in terms of I-V characteristics, electrochemical impedance spectra, and durable operation. It is found Gd3+doping significantly enriches the oxygen vacancies and enhance the ionic conductivity of BSZGdxY. The DFT calculations provide evidence of high oxygen vacancies formation with the optimal doping of Gd with x = 0.1. Among the three samples, the Ba0.5Sr0.5Zr0.8Gd0.1Y0.1O3-δ (BSZGd0.1Y) electrolyte exhibits the highest fuel cell power density of 805 mW cm−2, hybrid H+/O2– conductivity of 0.17 S cm−1, and stable operation for 67 h at 520 °C. Further study finds that the BSZGd0.1Y electrolyte-based fuel cell can be operated under water electrolysis mode, revealing a high current density of 2.37 A cm−2 under 1.5 V at 520 °C. Moreover, the impact of Gd doping is studied in terms of electronic structure and energy bands investigated with the help of DFT calculations and the Schottky junction effect of the cell for electron blocking is investigated. This work demonstrates an efficient way to explore hybrid H+/O2– conduction in BSZY for high-performance SOFC and water electrolysis. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

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U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2024.148750

DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2024.148750

M3 - Article

VL - 482

JO - Chemical Engineering Journal

JF - Chemical Engineering Journal

SN - 1385-8947

M1 - 148750

ER -