Tailoring Electrochemical Performance of Perovskite Anodes through In Situ Exsolution of Nanocatalysts.

Perovskites are promising alternative materials for conventional Ni-based cermet anodes, benefitting from their mixed ionic and electronic conductivity properties and good structure stability. However, they generally show a commonplace electrochemical catalytic activity. Here, a novel anode material La0.52Sr0.28Ti0.8Co0.1Fe0.1O3-δ (LSTCF) is successfully synthesized, and we report that the electrochemical performance of LSTCF can be commendably tuned by gas treatment, deriving from the exsolution of the impressively well-distributed Co-Fe alloy nanocatalyst with splendid catalytic activity for hydrogen electrochemical oxidation. At 900 °C, a power density value of 897 mW cm-2 is achieved by the treated LSTCF anode when using hydrogen as fuel, which is almost three times higher than that of the fresh anode. Moreover, we show that the nanoparticle-modified LSTCF perovskite also exhibits fascinating electrochemical catalytic activity at low temperatures.