• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.70.1-70.1
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• 2012

In-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy studies of SOFC cathode materials will be discussed in this presentation. The mixed conducting perovskites (ABO3) containing rare and alkaline earth metals on the A-site and a transition metal on the B-site are commonly used as cathodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). However, the details of the oxygen reduction reaction are still not clearly understood. The information about the type of adsorbed oxygen species and their concentration is important for a mechanistic understanding of the oxygen incorporation into these cathode materials. XPS has been widely used for the analysis of adsorbed species and surface structure. However, the conventional XPS experiments have the severe drawback to operate at room temperature and with the sample under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions, which is far from the relevant conditions of SOFC operation. The disadvantages of conventional XPS can be overcome to a large extent with a "high pressure" XPS setup installed at the BESSY II synchrotron. It allows sample depth profiling over 2 nm without sputtering by variation of the excitation energy, and most importantly measurements under a residual gas pressure in the mbar range. It is also well known that the catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction is very sensitive to their electrical conductivity and oxygen nonstoichiometry. Although the electrical conductivity of perovskite oxides has been intensively studied as a function of temperature or oxygen partial pressure (Po2), in-situ measurements of the conductivity of these materials in contact with the electrolyte as a SOFC configuration have little been reported. In order to measure the in-plane conductivity of an electrode film on the electrolyte, a substrate with high resistance is required for excluding the leakage current of the substrate. It is also hardly possible to measure the conductivity of cracked thin film by electrical methods. In this study, we report the electrical conductivity of perovskite $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_{3-{\delta}}$ (LSC) thin films on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte quantitatively obtained by in-situ IR spectroscopy. This method enables a reliable measurement of the electronic conductivity of the electrodes as part of the SOFC configuration regardless of leakage current to the substrate and cracks in the film.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.465-474
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• 2023

The effects of La³⁺ substitution for Sr²⁺-site on the crystal structure and the dielectric properties of (Ba_0.7Sr_0.3-3x/2La_x) (Ti_0.9Zr_0.1)O₃ (BSLTZ) (0.005 ≤ x ≤ 0.02) ceramics were investigated. The structural characteristics of the BSLTZ ceramics were quantitatively evaluated using the Rietveld refinement method from X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. For the specimens sintered at 1,550 ℃ for 6 h, a single phase with a perovskite structure and homogeneous microstructure were observed for the entire range of compositions. With increasing La³⁺ substitution (x), the unit cell volume decreased because the ionic size of La³⁺ (1.36 Å) ions is smaller than that of Sr²⁺ (1.44 Å) ions. With increasing La³⁺ substitution (x), the tetragonal phase fraction increased due to the A-site cation size mismatch effect. Dielectric constant (ε_r) increased with the La³⁺ substitution (x) due to the increase in tetragonality (c/a) and the average B-site bond valence of the ABO₃ perovskite. The BSLTZ ceramics showed a higher dielectric loss due to the smaller grain size than that of (Ba_0.7Sr_0.3)(Ti_0.9Zr_0.1)O₃ ceramics. BSLTZ (x = 0.02) ceramics met the X7R specification proposed by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA).

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.380-385
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• 2023

In this study, an MPB PMNT system containing 0.05 to 0.10 wt.% BaTiO₃ was synthesized using a traditional chemical method and its pyroelectricity was investigated. Pyroelectricity, dielectricity, and ferroelectricity of the synthesized BaTiO₃-PMNT system were analyzed by heat treatment at 1240~1280 ℃ for 4 hours to evaluate its applicability as a pyroelectric sensor. Unlike the simple ABO₃ ferroelectric, the BaTiO₃-doped PMNT system exhibited phase transition characteristics over a wide temperature range typical of complex perovskite structures. Although no dramatic change could be confirmed depending on the amount of BaTiO₃ added, stable pyroelectricity was maintained near room temperature and over a wide temperature range. When the amount of BaTiO₃ added increased from 0.05BaTiO₃-PMNT to 0.10BaTiO₃-PMNT, the electric field slightly increased from 5.00×10³ kV/m to 6.75×10³ kV/m, and the maximum value of remanent polarization slightly increased from 0.223 C/m² to 0.234 C/m². The pyroelectric coefficients of 0.05BaTiO₃-PMNT and 0.10BaTiO₃- PMNT at room temperature were measured to be ~0.0084 C/m²K and ~0.0043 C/m²K, respectively. The relaxor ferroelectric properties of the BaTiO₃-PMNT system were confirmed by analyzing the plot of K_max/K versus (T-T_max)^γ. The BaTiO₃-doped MPB PMNT system showed a distinct pyroelectric performance index at room temperature, and the values were F_v ~ 0.0362 m²/C, F_d ~ 0.575×10^-4 Pa^-1/2.