Characteristics of Fe-air battery using Y₂O₃-stabilized-ZrO₂ electrolyte with Ni-Fe electrode and Ba_0.6La_0.4CoO_3-δ electrode operated at intermediate temperature

The charge-discharge operation of a Fe-air battery using YSZ electrolyte at lower temperature was investigated using the NiFe-91 (Ni:Fe = 90:10 wt%) bimetal electrode as the fuel electrode and the Ba_0.6La_0.4CoO_3-δ (BLC) oxide electrode as the air electrode in this work. It was found that the total resistance of the cell using the NiFe-91 and BLC electrode was about 100 times smaller than that of the cell using the conventional Pt electrode, owing to its significantly small electrode resistance. It was also found that the 10 cycle charge-discharges were achieved at 600 °C by using these electrodes, and the capacity of about 700 mAh/g-Fe and energy density of 600 mWh/g-Fe were also retained during 8 cycles. These results showed a significant potential; the low temperature operation of the battery using YSZ electrolyte is sufficiently possible by choosing an appropriate electrode. However, the low stability of the NiFe-91 electrode, which is due to the agglomeration, was also found in this work.