Pre-coating of LSCM perovskite with metal catalyst for scalable high performance anodes Samir Boulfrad a,b, *, Mark Cassidy a , Elisabeth Djurado c , John T.S. Irvine a , Ghassan Jabbour b a School of Chemistry, University of St-Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK b King Abdullah University of Science and Technology e KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia c LEPMI, UMR 5279, CNRS e Grenoble INP e Universite ´ de Savoie e UJF, Grenoble, France article info Article history: Received 15 June 2012 Received in revised form 23 November 2012 Accepted 1 December 2012 Available online 28 December 2012 Keywords: SOFC SOEC Electrode Impregnation Pre-coating Nano-catalyst abstract In this work, a highly scalable technique is proposed as an alternative to the lab-scale impregnation method. LSCMeCGO powders were pre-coated with 5 wt% of Ni from nitrates. After appropriate mixing and adequate heat treatment, coated powders were then dispersed into organic based vehicles to form a screen-printable ink which was deposited and fired to form SOFC anode layers. Electrochemical tests show a considerable enhancement of the pre-coated anode performances under 50 ml/min wet H 2 flow with polarization resistance decreased from about 0.60 U cm 2 to 0.38 U cm 2 at 900  C and from 6.70 U cm 2 to 1.37 U cm 2 at 700  C. This is most likely due to the pre-coating process resulting in nano-scaled Ni particles with two typical sizes; from 50 to 200 nm and from 10 to 40 nm. Converging indications suggest that the latter type of particle comes from solid state solution of Ni in LSCM phase under oxidizing conditions and exsolution as nano- particles under reducing atmospheres. Copyright ª 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) and Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs) are highly efficient electrochemical devices for power generation and energy conversion. Cells consist of two porous electrodes (anode & cathode) separated by dense ionic conducting ceramic electrolyte. As well as presenting catalytic activity towards the desired electrode reaction, electrodes should be chemically and thermally compatible with the electrolyte. They should be both electronic and ionic conductors and should provide sufficient transport of gas by means of continuous interconnected porosity. Classically, electrodes are porous composite materials containing an ionic conductive phase and an electronic conductive phase pre- senting the desired catalytic activity. The electrode reactions take place at the Triple Phase Boundaries (TPB), the interface between the three phases: the ionic conductive; the electronic conductive and the gaseous phases in the pores. The larger the TPB the better the electrode performance [1]. Recently, much research has focused on improving the electrocatalytic performance of electrode materials by to maximizing the area of the active interfaces by either opti- mizing the microstructure or using nano-particles of catalyst materials dispersed on the surface of the electrode material. One successful technique has been the impregnation of porous electrodes by aqueous solutions containing the active * Corresponding author. Solar & Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center, Bld. 5, Level 3, Rm 3221, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Jeddah 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Tel.: þ966 5447 00016. E-mail address: samir.boulfrad@kaust.edu.sa (S. Boulfrad). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy 38 (2013) 9519 e9524 0360-3199/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.12.001