Abstract:
In this era renewable energy sources are becoming more important. They will play
and anticipate a more vital role in near future to avoid atmosphere changes. In this
context, fuel cells have gained much attention due to their high conversion efficiency
when contrast with conventional energy conversion system. Among all the fuel cells,
solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is one of the best sources for energy conversion
technologies along with low toxic emission, pollution, fuel flexibility, and cost
effective materials characteristics. However, there are still some complications that
need to be addressed; one of the significant challenges, activity of SOFC at low
temperature is decreased because of interfacial polarization obstructions and also
oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Thus to improve the activity and ORR, Strontium
substituted lanthanum Manganite La1-xSrxMnO3 perovskite type cathode materials is
synthesized. The prepared materials are Strontium substituted lanthanum Manganite
(La1-xSrxMnO3) (LSM)) where x=0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 All samples are prepared by
sol gel method. The functionalities of cathode materials (La1-xSrxMnO3) (LSM)) is
investigated in this research. Prominent bands at peak positions 310, 456, 643, 990
cm−1 wavelengths are observed through Raman spectra of LSM cathodes, analogous
to Mn-O-Mn bonds typical stretching, asymmetric stretching vibrations for Sr-O
band. The prominent peaks at 650, 855, 1052cm-1 wavelengths observed through
FTIR Analysis, these peaks attributed to stretching vibration of La-O bond, V1mode
of carbonate ion, symmetric vibration of Sr-O bond. The band gap energy of material has
been calculated 4.18 eV, 4.2 eV, 4.19 eV and 4.21 eV of La1Mn1O3, La0.8Sr0.2Mn1,
La0.6Sr0.4Mn1 and La0.4Sr0.6Mn1respectively. These show that the band gap increases
with the increase of the Sr2+ions concentration. DC Conductivity measurements of
LSM cathode samples are evaluated by four point probe method. The
La0.8Sr0.2Mn1O3–δ (LSM)has maximum conductivity of 0.726 Scm-1 at 600 °C .The
effects of synthesized LSM materials on performance for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
(SOFC) cathode were studied. The results indicate that developed LSM materials are
good cathode for SOFC as they have adequate electrocatalytic properties and good
chemical stability.
