Design of Active Hopping Sites via Trace Trivalent Cation in IT-SOFC Anode

Ke Tong, Toshiyuki Mori (), Andrii Rednyk, Shunya Yamamoto, Shigeharu Ito and Fei Ye ()
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Ke Tong: Center for Green Research on Energy and Environmental Materials, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Ibaraki, Japan
Toshiyuki Mori: Center for Green Research on Energy and Environmental Materials, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Ibaraki, Japan
Andrii Rednyk: Center for Green Research on Energy and Environmental Materials, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Ibaraki, Japan
Shunya Yamamoto: Takasaki Institute for Advanced Quantum Science, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, 1233 Watanuki, Takasaki 370-1292, Gunma, Japan
Shigeharu Ito: Department of Creative Engineering, Chemical and Biological Course, National Institute of Technology, Tsuruoka College, 104 Sawada, Inoka, Tsuruoka 997-8511, Yamagata, Japan
Fei Ye: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, 1088 Xueyuan Rd., Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518055, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: Intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) have attracted attention due to their potential to overcome the trade-off between the performance and lifetime of SOFC devices. However, the guiding principle for effective material design, which can reduce operating temperatures and overcome performance decreases caused by excessive overpotential on the anode surface, has not been clearly established. In the present work, we studied the reported Schottky anomaly, which has been observed exclusively in yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). To investigate this phenomenon, a small amount (less than 1200 ppm) of trivalent cations (Rh 3+ or Fe 3+ ), chemically similar to Y 3+ in Y 2 O 3 , was doped onto the YSZ surface in the anode layer. Then, the current density observed from the SOFC device at 973 K was found to be nine-times higher than the SOFC device with an undoped anode. The surface first-principles calculations in the present work indicate that this performance enhancement is caused by the delocalized electrons induced by trivalent cation doping in the vicinity of the three-phase boundary and the promotion of surface oxygen diffusion in YSZ. Based on all experimental data, the effective material design guiding principle was obtained for utilizing the unique physical property of YSZ for applications such as IT-SOFCs.

Keywords: surface first-principles calculations; active hopping site; use of the Schottky anomaly observed in YSZ; anode; IT-SOFCs; sputtering; trace trivalent cation doping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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