Effect of co substitution for mn on Y1-xSrxMnO3 properties for SOFC cathode material

Y0.6Sr0.4Mn1-yCoyO3 (0 less than or equal to y less than or equal to 0.4) perovskite oxides were prepared by the coprecipitation method. The effect of Co substitution for Mn on the crystal structure, electrical conductivity and thermal expansion properties were investigated. By X-ray powder diffraction, the crystal structure was found to change from hexagonal symmetry of Y0.8Sr0.2MnO3 to orthorhombic of Y0.6Sr0.4Mn1-yCoyO3. The differences in the structure of the unsubstituted Y1-xSrxMnO3 (0.2 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.4) are attributed to the average ionic radii of the cations and the amounts of Mn4+ present. The results of electrical conductivity analysis can be described by the small polaron hopping conductivity model. With Co substitution, the activation energy increases, possibly due to an increase of Jahn-Teller distortion, at an extent higher than the increase of the concentration of charge carriers; thus, the electrical conductivity decreases. In addition, the relative densities of the materials reached similar to94% with sintering at 1350degreesC for 12 h and had higher concentration of the available lattice sites, thus showing higher conductivity, than that with sintering at 1300degreesC for 6 h, which achieved similar to70% relative density. It is also found that the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) increases as the Sr and Co content of Y1-xSrxMn1-yCoyO3 increases and those with Co content of y = 0.2 exhibit TEC compatibility with YSZ. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.