Enhancing Bifunctional Electrocatalytic Activities of Oxygen Electrodes via Incorporating Highly Conductive Sm3+ and Nd3+ Double-Doped Ceria for Reversible Solid Oxide Cells.

Solid oxide cells (SOCs) are mutually convertible energy devices capable of generating electricity from chemical fuels including hydrogen in the fuel cell mode and producing green hydrogen using electricity from renewable but intermittent solar and wind resources in the electrolysis cell mode. An effective approach to enhance the performance of SOCs at reduced temperatures is by developing highly active oxygen electrodes for both oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions. Herein, highly conductive Sm3+ and Nd3+ double-doped ceria (Sm0.075Nd0.075Ce0.85O2-δ, SNDC) is utilized as an active component for reversible SOC applications. We develop a novel La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 -δ (LSCF)-SNDC composite oxygen electrode. Compared with the conventional LSCF-Gd-doped ceria oxygen electrode, the LSCF-SNDC exhibits ∼35% lower cathode polarization resistance (0.042 Ω cm2 at 750 °C) owing to rapid oxygen incorporation and surface diffusion kinetics. Furthermore, the SOC with the LSCF-SNDC oxygen electrode and the SNDC buffer layer yields a remarkable performance in both the fuel cell (1.54 W cm-2 at 750 °C) and electrolysis cell (1.37 A cm-2 at 750 °C) modes because the incorporation of SNDC promotes the surface diffusion kinetics at the oxygen electrode bulk and the activity of the triple phase boundary at the interface. These findings suggest that the highly conductive SNDC material effectively enhances both oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions, thus serving as a promising material in reversible SOC applications at reduced temperatures.

Crystal structure of strontium perchlorate anhydrate, Sr(ClO4)2, from laboratory powder X-ray diffraction data.

The crystal structure of strontium perchlorate anhydrate, Sr(ClO4)2, was determined and refined from laboratory powder X-ray diffraction data. The material was obtained by dehydration of Sr(ClO4)2·3H2O at 523 K for two weeks. It crystallizes in the ortho-rhom-bic space group Pbca and is isotypic with Ca(AlD4)2 and Ca(ClO4)2. The asymmetric unit contains one Sr, two Cl and eight O sites, all on general positions (Wyckoff position 8c). The crystal structure consists of Sr2+ cations and isolated ClO4 - tetra-hedra. The Sr2+ cation is coordinated by eight O atoms from eight ClO4 - tetra-hedra. The validity of the crystal structure model for Sr(ClO4)2 anhydrate was confirmed by the bond valence method.