Shuo Wan, Fan Yang, Chen Xia, Shanghai Wei, Shahzad Rasool, Sarfraz Rana, Bin Zhu
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The development of high-performance electrolytes enabling rapid ionic transport represents a critical pathway for operational temperature reduction in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). This study introduces amorphous alumina (AlOx) as a novel electrolyte material, systematically investigating its structural characteristics and charge transport mechanisms through comparative analysis with crystalline alumina (α-Al2O3, γ-Al2O3) and conventional gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC). It is found that AlOx possesses a notable enrichment of oxygen vacancy concentration. Its unique disordered atomic configuration plays a vital role in facilitating multiple pathways to enable fast ionic transport, resulting in high ionic conductivity of 0.08-0.12 S/cm at 480-540 °C, as evidenced by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), which is one order of magnitude superior to its crystalline counterpart. When implemented in symmetrical SOFC configurations, the AlOx electrolyte demonstrates unprecedented power density of 677 mW/cm2 at 540 °C. Further distribution of relaxation times (DRT) analysis confirms the predominance of protonic conduction pathways in AlOx while providing discernment of its electrochemical sub-processes. This work thus provides a new advanced electrolyte for low-temperature SOFCs while providing insights into amorphous ceramic.
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