A highly-active Zn0.58Co2.42O4 spinel oxide as a promising cathode for proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

Zn_0.58Co_2.42O₄ (ZCO), which is a novel spinel oxide, has been proposed as a cathode material for proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (H-SOFCs) to explore the possibility of using spinel oxide cathodes for H-SOFCs. The high oxygen-ion and proton migration kinetics of ZCO, which first-principles calculations and experiments have demonstrated, allow the ZCO cell to show high cell performance without impairing the stability of the material. Further optimizing the cathode/electrolyte interface, by utilizing the relatively low melting point of ZCO, allows a record-high performance to be obtained for the ZCO cell compared with other SOFCs using a spinel oxide cathode.