High performance La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ cathode prepared by a facile sol-gel method for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ oxide has been synthesized by a facile sol-gel method using a nonionic surfactant (EO)106(PO)70(EO)106 tri-block copolymer (Pluronic F127) as the chelating agent. The pure phase of La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ has been obtained by sintering at temperatures of 1100 °C for 12 h. La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ oxide as a cathode presents no visible reaction with an Y ₂O ₃-stabilized ZrO ₂ (YSZ) electrolyte. The electrochemical performance of the prepared oxide as a cathode has been investigated. Area specific resistance of La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ material on YSZ electrolyte is as low as 0.39 Ω cm ² at 750 °C. Furthermore, an anode-supported single-cell configuration of NiO-YSZ/YSZ/La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ has been achieved a maximum power density of 848 mW cm ^{- 2} at 750 °C. The cell performance was stable under a constant current of 0.6 A cm ^{- 2} for over 30 h at 750 °C. These results therefore suggest that La ₃Ni ₂O ₇ synthesized by this sol-gel method is a highly promising cathode material for applications in IT-SOFCs.