Short Communication Development of nanostructured La 0.8 Sr 0.2 MnO 3¡d -Er 0.4 Bi 1.6 O 3 cathodes via an infiltration process with different polymeric agents for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells Jin Wan Park, Dong Woo Joh, Byung-Hyun Yun, Kunda J. Samdani, Kang Taek Lee * Department of Energy Systems Engineering, DGIST, Daegu, 42988, South Korea article info Article history: Received 30 September 2016 Received in revised form 5 November 2016 Accepted 26 November 2016 Available online xxx Keywords: Solid oxide fuel cells Cathode Bismuth oxide Infiltration Nanostructure Lanthanum strontium manganite abstract Dual-phase composite cathodes consisting of La 0.8 Sr 0.2 MnO 3d (LSM) nanoparticles on the Er 0.4 Bi 1.6 O 3 (ESB) scaffold have been synthesized via an infiltration technique using different polymeric agents for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) applications. It was found that the LSM infiltration with Triton-X yielded well-distributed LSM nano-catalysts (<50 nm) on the ESB surface, while the use of glycine resulted in the highly agglomerated ‘layer-like’ structure. The nanostructured LSM-ESB fabricated with Triton-X exhibited low electrode resistance of 0.23 U-cm 2 at 650  C, which is ~60% lower than that of the conventional LSM-ESB (0.56 U-cm 2 ). Electrochemical impedance analysis revealed that this performance enhancement is primarily attributed to the enhanced charge transfer process of oxygen reduction reactions with homogeneously increased re- action sites in the characteristic nanostructure. © 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) is one of the widely used cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) at high temperatures (>800  C) due to their thermochemical stability and high electrical conductivity. Despite its good compatibility with conventional electrolyte materials, such as stabilized zirconia as well as doped ceria [1], it has not been a popular choice as a cathode material at reduced temperatures below 750  C. This is due to its negligible ionic conductivity as well as the high activation energy for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) [2]. Recent isothermal isotope exchange studies revealed that the oxygen incorporation into the lattice is one * Corresponding author. DGIST, 333, Techno Jungang Daero, Hyeongpung-Myeon, Dalseong-Gun, Daegu, 42988, South Korea. Fax: þ82 53 785 6409. E-mail address: ktlee@dgist.ac.kr (K.T. Lee). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (2016) 1 e6 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.11.175 0360-3199/© 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article in press as: Park JW, et al., Development of nanostructured La 0.8 Sr 0.2 MnO 3d -Er 0.4 Bi 1.6 O 3 cathodes via an infil- tration process with different polymeric agents for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.11.175