Improved Mechanical Strength, Proton Conductivity and Power Density in an ‘All-protonic’ Ceramic Fuel Cell at Intermediate Temperature

Improved Mechanical Strength, Proton Conductivity and Power Density in an ‘All-protonic’ Ceramic Fuel Cell at Intermediate Temperature | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Improved Mechanical Strength, Proton Conductivity and Power Density in an ‘All-protonic’ Ceramic Fuel Cell at Intermediate Temperature Abul K. Azad, Abdalla M. Abdalla, Ahmed Afif, Atia Azad, Shammya Afroze, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-601475/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) have become the most efficient, clean and cost-effective electrochemical energy conversion devices in recent years. While significant progress has been made in developing proton conducting electrolyte materials, mechanical strength and durability still need to be improved for efficient applications. We report that adding 5 mol% Zn to the Y-doped barium cerate-zirconate perovskite electrolyte material can significantly improve the sintering properties, mechanical strength, durability and performance. Using same proton conducting material in anodes, electrolytes and cathodes to make a strong structural backbone shows clear advantages in mechanical strength over other arrangements with different materials. Rietveld analysis of the X-ray and neutron diffraction data of BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.15 Zn 0.05 O 3-δ (BCZYZn05) revealed a pure orthorhombic structure belonging to the Pbnm space group. Structural and electrochemical analyses indicate highly dense and high proton conductivity at intermediate temperature (400-700 °C). The anode-supported single cell, NiO-BCZYZn05 | BCZYZn05 | BSCF-BCZYZn05, demonstrates a peak power density of 872 mW cm -2 at 700 °C which is one of the highest power density in an all-protonic solid oxide fuel cell. This observation represents an important step towards commercially viable SOFC technology. Mechanical Engineering Protonic ceramic fuel cells cost-effective electrochemical energy SOFC Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Full-Text Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryMaterialsSciRep.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 06 Jul, 2021 Reviews received at journal 14 Jun, 2021 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jun, 2021 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Jun, 2021 Editor assigned by journal 10 Jun, 2021 Editor invited by journal 10 Jun, 2021 Submission checks completed at journal 09 Jun, 2021 First submitted to journal 07 Jun, 2021 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-601475","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":32054030,"identity":"f96c4b3d-47c4-4e49-a7e5-658a93a66152","order_by":0,"name":"Abul K. 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While significant progress has been made in developing proton conducting electrolyte materials, mechanical strength and durability still need to be improved for efficient applications. We report that adding 5 mol% Zn to the Y-doped barium cerate-zirconate perovskite electrolyte material can significantly improve the sintering properties, mechanical strength, durability and performance. Using same proton conducting material in anodes, electrolytes and cathodes to make a strong structural backbone shows clear advantages in mechanical strength over other arrangements with different materials. Rietveld analysis of the X-ray and neutron diffraction data of BaCe\u003csub\u003e0.7\u003c/sub\u003eZr\u003csub\u003e0.1\u003c/sub\u003eY\u003csub\u003e0.15\u003c/sub\u003eZn\u003csub\u003e0.05\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3-δ\u003c/sub\u003e (BCZYZn05) revealed a pure orthorhombic structure belonging to the \u003cem\u003ePbnm\u003c/em\u003e space group. 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