Superionic Conductivity in Ceria‑Based Heterostructure Composites for Low‑Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Ceria-based heterostructure composite(CHC)has become a new stream to develop advanced low-temperature(300–600°C)solid oxide fuel cells(LTSOFCs)with excellent power outputs at 1000 mW cm−2 level.The state-ofthe-art ceria–carbonate or ceria–semiconductor heterostructure composites have made the CHC systems significantly contribute to both fundamental and applied science researches of LTSOFCs;however,a deep scientific understanding to achieve excellent fuel cell performance and high superionic conduction is still missing,which may hinder its wide application and commercialization.This review aims to establish a new fundamental strategy for superionic conduction of the CHC materials and relevant LTSOFCs.This involves energy band and built-in-field assisting superionic conduction,highlighting coupling effect among the ionic transfer,band structure and alignment impact.Furthermore,theories of ceria–carbonate,e.g.,space charge and multi-ion conduction,as well as new scientific understanding are discussed and presented for functional CHC materials.

Fluorescence of Single Conjugated Chains of MEH-PPV Dispersed in Polymer Matrix: What Do We See in the Microscope?

It has been a mystery that the detected fluorescence intensity of single MEH-PPV molecules is much lower than expected based on their chain length.In this review,after re-evaluating of the literature data in the light of new specially designed experiments,we present a comprehensive explanation of this issue:The actual size of MEH-PPV molecules at single molecule level is much smaller than expected due to de-aggregation and chain scission,while static quenching("dark matter")also exists for large molecules,further reducing their brightness.

Efficient reversible CO/CO_(2) conversion in solid oxide cells with a phase-transformed fuel electrode

The reversible solid oxide cell(RSOC)is an attractive technology to mutually convert power and chemicals at elevated temperatures.However,its development has been hindered mainly due to the absence of a highly active and durable fuel electrode.Here,we report a phase-transformed CoFe-Sr_(3)Fe_(1.25)Mo_(0.75)O_(7)-δ(CoFe-SFM)fuel electrode consisting of CoFe nanoparticles and Ruddlesden-Popper-layered Sr_(3)Fe_(1.25)Mo_(0.75)O_(7)-δ(SFM)from a Sr_(2)Fe_(7/6)Mo_(0.5)Co_(1/3)O_(6)-δ(SFMCo)perovskite oxide after annealing in hydrogen and apply it to reversible CO/CO_(2)conversion in RSOC.The CoFeSFM fuel electrode shows improved catalytic activity by accelerating oxygen diffusion and surface kinetics towards the CO/CO_(2)conversion as demonstrated by the distribution of relaxation time(DRT)study and equivalent circuit model fitting analysis.Furthermore,an electrolyte-supported single cell is evaluated in the 2:1 CO-CO_(2)atmosphere at 800℃,which shows a peak power density of 259 mW cm^(-2)for CO oxidation and a current density of-0.453 A cm^(-2)at 1.3 V for CO_(2)reduction,which correspond to 3.079 and3.155 m L min-1cm^(-2)for the CO and CO_(2)conversion rates,respectively.More importantly,the reversible conversion is successfully demonstrated over 20 cyclic electrolysis and fuel cell switching test modes at 1.3 and 0.6 V.This work provides a useful guideline for designing a fuel electrode through a surface/interface exsolution process for RSOC towards efficient CO-CO_(2)reversible conversion.