Quantitative Study of LSCF and LSM-YSZ Cathode Microstructure by FIB/SEM Tomography

• Published in: ECS transactions Vol. 78; no. 1; pp. 861 - 867
• Main Authors: Wankmüller, Florian, Joos, Jochen, Meffert, Matthias, Gerthsen, Dagmar, Ivers-Tiffée, Ellen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Electrochemical Society, Inc 30.05.2017
• ISSN: 1938-5862; 1938-6737; 1938-6737; 1938-5862
• DOI: 10.1149/07801.0861ecst

(La, Sr)(Co, Fe)O3-δ (LSCF) and the composite (La, Sr)MnO3 (LSM) - Y2O3 doped ZrO2 (YSZ) are the most commonly used cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). If electrochemical and microstructural parameters of these electrodes are known from appropriate techniques, the performance can be modeled and compared for different operating conditions. Advanced imaging techniques such as focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) tomography have shown their potential for microstructure quantification. This contribution will show how FIB/SEM tomography can be used to identify microstructural parameters such as porosity, particle size, surface area and tortuosity. A comparison between LSCF and LSM-YSZ cathodes is given, including a demonstration of how a change in tomography parameters allows distinguishing the different phases especially in composite cathodes to overcome challenges in reconstruction and parameter acquisition.