Zr-Induced Ba capture in double Perovskites: Enhanced oxygen activity and durability for Ceramic cathodes

• A facile and efficient atom capture technique is developed to manipulate the surface chemistry of cathode for SOFCs. • The capture of surface segregation alkaline earth metals effectively enhances stability. • The trapping of Ba effectively exposes the catalytic active sites of the parent material. • The formed NBC@BaZrO 3 heterostructure cathode demonstrated outstanding electrochemical performance. While solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer high-efficiency energy conversion, the practical application of high-performance layered double perovskite cathodes is severely limited by performance degradation caused by alkaline earth metal segregation during operation. In this study, a straightforward yet highly effective atom-trapping strategy is introduced to tailor the surface chemistry of the NdBaCo 2 O 5+ δ (NBC) cathode for SOFCs. This method successfully captures segregated Ba cation on the NBC surface using Zr species, creating a BaZrO 3 @NBC heterostructure. The resulting composite exhibits superior chemical robustness and accelerated oxygen reduction reaction kinetics. Consequently, the single cell using the optimized 8 wt.%BaZrO 3 @NBC cathode demonstrates a favorable peak power density of 1.47 W cm −2 (800 °C) in oxygen ion conductors SOFCs mode and 0.99 W cm −2 at 650 °C in proton conductors SOFCs mode. Moreover, the cell durability test conducted under a carbon dioxide-containing atmosphere confirmed superior stability. This atomic surface capture strategy offers a novel pathway for the advancement of innovative cathode materials.