Influence of Microwave-Assisted Pechini Method on La0.80Sr0.20Ga0.83Mg0.17O3-δ Ionic Conductivity

• Published in: Fuel cells (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2012-02, Vol.12 (1), p.54-60
• Main Authors: Boldrini, S., Mortalò, C., Fasolin, S., Agresti, F., Doubova, L., Fabrizio, M., Barison, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ionic Conductivity; IT-SOFC; Mg)-Doped LaGaO3; Microwave Processing; Sol-Gel; Sr
• ISSN: 1615-6846; 1615-6854
• DOI: 10.1002/fuce.201100058

With the aim of investigating the microwave influence on the electrolyte material properties, La0.80Sr0.20Ga0.83Mg0.17O2.815 was prepared by both a conventional and a microwave‐assisted sol–gel Pechini method. With respect to the conventional Pechini method (hereafter SGP), the microwave assisted process (hereafter MWA‐SGP) guaranteed a faster procedure, reducing the time needed to remove the excess solvents to complete the polyesterification reaction from some days to a few hours. In fact, when a MWA‐SGP method was used, powders having higher phase purity were obtained. The sintering process at 1,450 °C of the powders prepared by both methods yielded pellets with similar density values (≥92% of theoretical). Nevertheless, only by microwave‐assisted process single‐phase products were obtained and no secondary phases such as tetragonal LaSrGaO4 and LaSrGa3O7 were detected. These by‐products have been demonstrated to be detrimental for conductivity. Indeed, pellets obtained by MWA‐SGP method showed oxygen ionic conductivity values higher (about 30–40%) than those checked for SGP samples, thus demonstrating the important role of the microwave process on reducing time and costs and on improving the electrolyte properties.