The Exploration of Cerium Metal Ions Effect on LaSrTiO3 – δ Ceramic Anode for Fuel Cell

Perovskite based materials have become an attractive anode for fuel cell due to the significant conductivity, carbon resistivity and sulphur tolerance. Doping of Ce on B-site of the La0.4Sr0.6CexTi1−xO $$_{{3-\delta }}$$ (x = 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08) with different dopant concentrations is prepared using sol-gel technique. The synthesized material is analyzed by numerous techniques. X-ray diffraction confirmed the cubic perovskite structure (JCPDS 01-079- 0183) with average crystallite size of 35 nm. UV–Vis spectroscopy revealed the red shift in band gap (2.76 eV) compared to LaSrTiO $$_{{3-\delta }}$$ . Scanning electron microscopy shows the homogeneity and porosity in the prepared material. The observed particle size is in the range of 50–60 nm. The presence of the lanthanum, strontium, cerium, titanium and oxygen ions is confirmed by EDX. The Raman spectra and XRD, confirmed that cerium ions have been diffused in the lattice structure of LSTO $$_{{3-\delta }}$$ . The La0.4Sr0.6Ce0.08Ti0.92O $$_{{3-\delta }}$$ anode showed the highest conductivity of 2.67 S cm–1 with lower activation energy of 0.20 eV as compared to other three samples. The power density of 58 mW cm–2 at 600°C with 0.9 V OCV is achieved for the composition La0.4Sr0.6Ce0.08Ti0.92O $$_{{3-\delta }}$$ using sub-bituminous fuel. The observed results show that prepared material is potential ceramic anode for direct carbon fuel cell.