IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-59477-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing surface activity and durability in triple conducting electrode for protonic ceramic electrochemical cells

Author

Listed:
  • Shuanglin Zheng

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Wei Wu

    (Idaho National Laboratory)

  • Yuchen Zhang

    (Idaho National Laboratory)

  • Zeyu Zhao

    (Idaho National Laboratory)

  • Chuancheng Duan

    (University of Utah)

  • Saroj Karki

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Hanping Ding

    (University of Oklahoma)

Abstract

With the material system operating at lower temperatures, protonic ceramic electrochemical cells (PCECs) can offer high energy efficiency and reliable performance for both power generation and hydrogen production, making them a promising technology for reversible energy cycling. However, PCEC faces technical challenges, particularly regarding electrode activity and durability under high current density operations. To address these challenges, we introduce a nano-architecture oxygen electrode characterized by high porosity and triple conductivity, designed to enhance catalytic activity and interfacial stability through a self-assembly approach, while maintaining scalability. Electrochemical cells incorporating this advanced electrode demonstrate robust performance, achieving a peak power density of 1.50 W cm⁻2 at 600 °C in fuel cell mode and a current density of 5.04 A cm−2 at 1.60 V in electrolysis mode, with enhanced stability on transient operations and thermal cycles. The underlying mechanisms are closely related to the improved surface activity and mass transfer due to the dual features of the electrode structure. Additionally, the enhanced interfacial bonding between the oxygen electrode and electrolyte contributes to increased durability and thermomechanical integrity. This study underscores the critical importance of optimizing electrode microstructure to achieve a balance between surface activity and durability.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuanglin Zheng & Wei Wu & Yuchen Zhang & Zeyu Zhao & Chuancheng Duan & Saroj Karki & Hanping Ding, 2025. "Enhancing surface activity and durability in triple conducting electrode for protonic ceramic electrochemical cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59477-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59477-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59477-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-59477-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fan Liu & Hao Deng & David Diercks & Praveen Kumar & Mohammed Hussain Abdul Jabbar & Cenk Gumeci & Yoshihisa Furuya & Nilesh Dale & Takanori Oku & Masahiro Usuda & Pejman Kazempoor & Liyang Fang & Di , 2023. "Lowering the operating temperature of protonic ceramic electrochemical cells to," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(10), pages 1145-1157, October.
    2. Kyungpyo Hong & Mingi Choi & Yonggyun Bae & Jihong Min & Jaeyeob Lee & Donguk Kim & Sehee Bang & Han-Koo Lee & Wonyoung Lee & Jongsup Hong, 2023. "Direct methane protonic ceramic fuel cells with self-assembled Ni-Rh bimetallic catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Zhaojian Liang & Jingyi Wang & Keda Ren & Zhenjun Jiao & Meng Ni & Liang An & Yang Wang & Jinbin Yang & Mengying Li, 2024. "Discovering two general characteristic times of transient responses in solid oxide cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liang, Zhaojian & Chen, Shanlin & Ni, Meng & Wang, Jingyi & Li, Mengying, 2024. "A novel control strategy to neutralize internal heat source within solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) under variable solar power conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    2. Pan, Zehua & Wang, Jingyi & Zhu, Liangzhu & Duan, Chuancheng & Jiao, Zhenjun & Zhong, Zheng & O'Hayre, Ryan & Sullivan, Neal P., 2025. "Performance and stability of renewable fuel production via H2O electrolysis and H2O–CO2 co-electrolysis using proton-conducting solid oxide electrolysis cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 385(C).
    3. Li, Kunpeng & Murakami, Takeru & Nagata, Yohei & Mikami, Yuichi & Yamauchi, Kosuke & Kuroha, Tomohiro & Okuyama, Yuji & Mizutani, Yasunobu & Mori, Masashi & Araki, Takuto, 2025. "What kind of PCFC material physical property values do we need? —From a system efficiency perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 381(C).
    4. Ya, Yuchen & Xu, Yi shu & Elbanna, Ahmed Mohammed & Liu, Yimin & Sun, Boyu & Cheng, Xiaobei, 2025. "Review of direct ammonia solid oxide fuel cells: Low temperature cell structure and ammonia decomposition strategies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59477-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.