Sr2CoMoO6 anode for solid oxide fuel cell running on H2 and CH4 fuels

Abstract The double perovskite Sr 2 CoMoO 6− δ was investigated as a candidate anode for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the cation array is retained to 800 °C in H 2 atmosphere with the introduction of a limited concentration of oxide–ion vacancies. Stoichiometric Sr 2 CoMoO 6 has an antiferromagnetic Neel temperature T N  ≈ 37 K, but after reduction in H 2 at 800 °C for 10 h, long-range magnetic order appears to set in above 300 K. In H 2 , the electronic conductivity increases sharply with temperature in the interval 400 °C  T 2 CoMoO 6− δ a good mixed oxide–ion/electronic conductor (MIEC). With a 300-μm-thick La 0.8 Sr 0.12 Ga 0.83 Mg 0.17 O 2.815 (LSGM) as oxide–ion electrolyte and SrCo 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3− δ as the cathode, the Sr 2 CoMoO 6− δ anode gave a maximum power density of 1017 mW cm −2 in H 2 and 634 mW cm −2 in wet CH 4 . A degradation of power in CH 4 was observed, which could be attributed to coke build up observed by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).