Synthesis of high-performance La_0.6Sr_0.4CoO_3−δ nano-powder prepared via an acetic–acrylic method

Abstract

A novel acetic-acrylic (AA) approach was developed to obtain La_0.6Sr_0.4CoO_3−δ (LSC) using lanthanum oxide, acetate, and acrylic acid as the starting materials. We synthesized several LSC products with varying acrylic acid (L) and metal salt (M) molar ratios (L/M). The precursors and the final products were thoroughly characterized. When the L/M molar ratio is 0.9, the high-purity nano LSC powders were obtained by heating at 900 °C. The conductivity of LSC bulk sample was equal to 2534 and 2430 S cm⁻¹ at 650 and 700 °C, respectively. This sintered LSC was used in a cathode with polarisation resistances (Rp) of 0.190 and 0.084 Ω·cm² at 650 and 700 °C, respectively. It was observed that at 700 and 650 °C, the power density of an anode with a structure that might be defined as Ni-3YSZ/8YSZ/GDC/LSC-0.9 was 947 and 585 mW cm⁻², respectively. Our results revealed that the high-performance LSC powders could be synthesized by the acetic-acrylic synthesis method, applicable to a large scale.