Microwave-assisted Combustion Synthesis of Nanocrystalline NdCoO3 Cathode Material for Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (IT-SOFCs) Application

A nanocrystalline NdCoO3 was synthesized by a simple and effective microwave irradiation using a domestic microwave oven with a microwave irradiation time of 50 minutes using aspartic acid as the fuel. This process remarkably reduced the synthesis time and NdCoO3 was produced relatively quickly for the first time. The formation of a single phase nanocrystalline NdCoO3 powder was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The particles size was confirmed by XRD line broadening analysis using the Scherrer equation. The particle distribution and structural morphology analysis of the synthesized product was observed by SEM. The synthesized materials showed reasonable electrical conductivity. These results indicate that microwave assisted combustion method is a promising method to prepare nanocrystalline NdCoO3 cathode material for solid oxide fuel cell application.