This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 21676261, U1632131 and 51602238). The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for a RSE BP Hutton Prize in Energy Innovation and EPSRC Platform grant, EP/K015540/1. We also would like to thank the support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201606340101).Developing new low-cost high-performance cobalt-free cathode materials for low temperature proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (H-SOFCs) has been an imperative topic. In response to this challenge, we herein develop a novel in situ Pr diffusion strategy based on a Sm0.2Ce0.8O2-δ-Pr(Pr0.5Ba1.5)Cu3O7-δ (SDC-PBCu, 3:7 wt%) compound, to achieve a perovskite-related proton-blocking composite cathode (PBCC) Ce1-xPrxO2-δ-Ba2CeCu3O7.4-Sm2Ba1.33Ce0.67Cu3O9-CuO (PDC-BCC-SBCC-CuO) for BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.2O3-δ-based H-SOFCs. The single cell achieves a remarkable performance with a maximum power density (MPD) of 1000 and 566 mW cm-2, corresponding to the interfacial polarization resistance (RP) of 0.037 and 0.188 Ω cm2 at 700 and 600 °C, respectively. The XRD results demonstrate that the PBCu phase disappears after the calcination of the mixed SDC-PBCu composite powder at 900 °C, with the formation of four new phases including fluorite structured PDC, orthorhombic layered material BCC, tetragonal perovskite-related SBCC and a small quantity of metallic oxide CuO, being favorable for a superior cathode performance. The ascendant electrochemical performance including the very high MPD and the lower RP obtained here indicate that the quaternary cobalt-free PBCC PDC-BCC-SBCC-CuO is a preferable alternative for high-performance low-temperature H-SOFCs.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe
