Comparison of Combustion and Solid-State Reaction Methods for the Fabrication of SOFC LSM Cathodes

This study investigates the crystal phase and microstructure of LSM (La1-xSrxMnO3) cathode material synthesized by solid state reaction method and combustion synthesis. It measures and compares their electrical properties. LSM is a lanthanum ferrite-based cathode material. It has an ABO3 perovskite structure; the A in this structure was substituted by Sr in this research to synthesize the LSM cathode powder. An electrolyte pellet was prepared using 8 mol% YSZ (yttria-stabilized zirconia) powder. The electrode was vapor deposited by screen printing. The crystal structure and morphology were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the sintered samples collected. The complex impedance was measured in the temperature range 600–900°C in air (Computer Impedance Grain-Phase Analyzer). The electrical conductivity and polarization resistance of LSM were characterized systematically.