Perovskite Manganite Materials: Recent Advancements and Challenges as Cathode for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications

In the current scenario, the materials research activity plays a crucial role in the areas such as multiphase composite cathodes, ceramics anodes and electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. With the recent trends towards the lowering of SOFCs operating temperature, recent research activities have been focusing on developing new electrodes, electrolyte and metallic interconnects; this presents a whole new matrix of possible material interactions. The engineering of novel materials has been much more complicated than simply optimizing the electrochemical performance of a known one. Particularly, the cathode materials for SOFC applications have a challenging task. The noble metals, which had been used in the early days, have fallen out of favour on cost basis. Hence, multiphase composite cathode materials have much more importance in recent days. The key role of the cathode is to make the maximum number of available reaction sites for the electrochemical reduction of the oxidant. In this chapter, we have discussed perovskite manganite metal oxides, particularly lanthanum manganite materials for the recent advancements as well as its challenges. An overview of the other type of perovskite cathode materials and effect of porosity for SOFC applications has also been discussed.