New Insight into the Doped Strontium Titanate Cathode with In Situ Exsolved Nickel Nanoparticles for Electrolysis of Carbon Dioxide

One way to avoid CO2 pollution is changing it into CO by solid oxide electrolyzers, in which doped SrTiO3 can be used as cathode materials. It is found that in situ exsolved Ni nanoparticles in doped SrTiO3 cathode can further improve the electrolysis performance. In this work, (La0.2Sr0.8)(0.85)Ti0.8Cr0.1Ni0.1O3-delta cathode with in situ exsolved Ni particles is investigated. A new model proposed explains the influence of exsolution process on crystal structure. Based on thermogravimetric analysis, it is estimated that about 13.6% to 37.4% Ni atoms exsolve out of original cathode. With the new cathode containing Ni nanoparticles, the yield of CO from electrolysis is improved at about 50% and the current efficiency is increased at about 10%.