sintering behavior of porous nanostructured sr-doped lanthanum manganite as sofc cathode material

the fuel cells are distinguished as generating of green allocable energy and are electrochemical devices of low environmental impact. porous nanocrystalline strontium-doped lanthanum manganite la0.8sr0.2mno3 (lsm) cathode materials were prepared by mechanochemical route in various grinding times. carbon black was employed to produce pores. the formation of lsm single phase was studied by x-ray diffraction patterns. porosity and density amounts were measured by means of archimedes method, furthermore,contraction of sintered samples was comparably evaluated. scanning electron microscopy (sem) images were used for morphological study. it is shown that the open and total porosity generally decrease with sintering temperature, however the milling time increase these factors. relying on open porosity amount and distribution, relative density and microstructural scrutiny the proper sintering temperature was determined. the microstructural investigation indicates that the grains grow as the sintering temperature increases which leads to decrease the number of the open pores.