Tailoring kinetics of Cr-chemisorption over La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 cathode material through its porosity variation

The La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3 (LSCF) ceramics with the porosity of 20% (LSCF-20) and 50% (LSCF-50) were fabricated through temperature variation. Kinetics of the Cr-adsorption has been studied at 700 °C over 345 h under air. Different dominant mechanisms of Cr chemisorption over the ceramics with different porosities were identified. The Cr–substitution into the LSCF perovskite grains will dominate in the denser LSCF-20 ceramics, whereas the growth of SrCrO 4 crystals over the LSCF perovskite phase will occur preferably in the more porous LSCF-50 ceramics. The Cr penetrates into a more porous LSCF-50 ceramics up to 12–17 μm and the total Cr amount adsorbed after 345 h over the LSCF-50 ceramics is larger by about 10 times than over the denser LSCF-20 ceramics. The revealed remarkable differences could be associated with the increase in the surface area and with a higher volume of macro- and mesoporosity.