Metal oxide electroceramics are a class of inorganic materials that comprise of oxide crystalline nanostructures either pristine, doped or as solid solutions. They display electrical properties that can be electronic, ionic or mixed ionic-electronic conductive. As in all ceramic materials, they exhibit mechanical, chemical and thermal stability, with their micro-structure defining their overall properties. Thus their multiple applicability in electrochemical applications from energy conversion devices (such as solid oxide fuel/electrochemical cells), energy storage devices (such as batteries and supercapacitors) and sensing devices (such as conductometric gas sensors). Perovskite metal oxide materials with a general formula of ABO3 exhibit such properties, with notable examples such as SrTiO3 mixed ion electron conductor. In the field of energy conversion solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells (SOFCs/SOECs) electroceramic perovskites like LaMnO3 and Sr-doped derivatives have been extensively utilized as oxygen/air electrodes for the oxygen reduction reaction of molecular oxygen to oxide ion.

Conventional synthesis of such oxide perovskites include sol-gel, solvothermal, and combustion synthesis, while conventional deposition methods for the fabrication of solid state devices are usually processed of either high accuracy and cost (PLD, CVD, etc) or of low cost but less accurate (slot casting, spincoating, etc). However, novel solvent-free synthetic routes of high yields, low toxicity and lower energy consumption, as well as contact-less direct deposition implementing additive manufacturing (inkjet printing[1], robocasting, etc) have been reported recently, in order to address scalability, cost reductions and sustainability of the manufacturing process.

In this work we propose a mechanochemically-assisted synthetic route to synthesize Lanthanum-based oxide perovskites, with high purity and small features. Additionally conventional synthesis methods are presented for comparison. Powders are characterized in regards to their physicochemical properties, with structural, elemental and morphological analysis. For the fabrication of Solid Oxide Cells, different routes are tested, from screen printing to inkjet printing, to evaluate the effect of the deposition method. Finally, a comparison with commercially available state-of-the-art materials is presented, with the properties of powders and films correlated to performance of the cells.

References
[1] L. Zouridi; I. Garagounis; A. Vourros; G.E. Marnellos; V. Binas; Advances in Inkjet‐ Printed Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. Adv Materials Technologies, 2022, 7, 2101491.