Highly dispersed nickel species on iron-based perovskite for CO2 electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cell

Feasible construction of cathode materials with highly dispersed active sites can extend the triple-phase boundaries, and therefore leading to enhanced electrode kinetics for CO2 electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC). Herein, highly dispersed nickel species with low loading (1.0 wt%) were trapped within the La0.8Sr0.2FeO3–δ-Ce0.8Sm0.2O2–δ via a facial mechanical milling approach, which demonstrated excellent CO2 electrolysis performance. The highly dispersed nickel species can significantly alter the electronic structures of the LSF-SDC without affecting its porous network and facilitate oxygen vacancy formation, thus greatly promote the CO2 electrolysis performance. The highest current density of 1.53 A·cm−2 could be achieved when operated under 800 °C at 1.6 V, which is about 91% higher than the LSF-SDC counterpart.