Highly Active and Stable Cu-Based Anode Decorated with In Situ Fabricated CuFe Alloy Nanoparticles for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Uniformly distributed CuFe bimetallic alloy (CFA) nanoparticle-decorated Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) structure PrSr(Cu,Fe)0.9Mn0.1O4-δ perovskite (RP-PSCFM-CFA) had been synthesized by in situ annealing cubic perovskite Pr0.5Sr0.5Cu0.1Fe0.8Mn0.1O3-δ in a wet H2 atmosphere at 800 °C. The precipitated nanoparticles effectively improved the electrochemical properties of the RP-PSCFM-CFA when it was used as the solid oxide fuel cell anode. The La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.83Mg0.17O3−δ electrolyte-supported single cell can reach maximum power densities of 0.996 and 0.410 W cm–2 in H2 and C3H8 at 800 °C, respectively. Moreover, the single cell showed a superior stable performance in C3H8 at 800 °C with a constant current density of 0.8 A cm–2, indicating that the RP-PSCFM-CFA anode has an excellent catalytic capacity and certain anticarbon performance. This study offers the possibility of further extensive development of Cu-based perovskite anodes.