Proton‐Mediated and Ir‐Catalyzed Iron/Iron‐Oxide Redox Kinetics for Enhanced Rechargeability and Durability of Solid Oxide Iron–Air Battery

Long duration energy storage (LDES) is an economically attractive approach to accelerating clean renewable energy deployment. The newly emerged solid oxide iron-air battery (SOIAB) is intrinsically suited for LDES applications due to its excellent low-rate performance (high-capacity with high efficiency) and use of low-cost and sustainable materials. However, rechargeability and durability of SOIAB are critically limited by the slow kinetics in iron/iron-oxide redox couples. Here the use of combined proton-conducting BaZr0.4Ce0.4Y0.1Yb0.1O3 (BZC4YYb) and reduction-promoting catalyst Ir to address the kinetic issues, is reported. It is shown that, benefiting from the facilitated H+ diffusion and boosted FeOx-reduction kinetics, the battery operated under 550 degrees C, 50% Fe-utilization and 0.2 C, exhibits a discharge specific energy density of 601.9 Wh kg(-1)-Fe with a round-trip efficiency (RTE) of 82.9% for 250 h of a cycle duration of 2.5 h. Under 500 degrees C, 50% Fe-utilization and 0.2 C, the same battery exhibits 520 Wh kg(-1)-Fe discharge energy density with an RTE of 61.8% for 500 h. This level of energy storage performance promises that SOIAB is a strong candidate for LDES applications.