Ni–Doped PrBaMnO Cathodes for Enhancing Electrolysis of CO in Solid Oxide Electrolytic Cells

Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs) can electro-reduce carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which not only effectively utilizes greenhouse gases, but also converts excess electrical energy into chemical energy. Perovskite-based oxides with exsolved metal nanoparticles are promising cathode materials for direct electrocatalytic reduction of CO through SOECs, and have thus received increasing attention. In this work, we doped PrBaMnO at the B site, and after reduction treatment, metal nanoparticles exsolved and precipitated on the surface of the cathode material, thereby establishing a stable metal–oxide interface structure and significantly improving the electrocatalytic activity of the SOEC cathode materials. Through research, among the PrBaMnNiO (PBMN = 0–1) cathode materials, it has been found that the PrBaMnNiO (PBMN) electrode material exhibits greater catalytic activity, with a CO yield of 5.36 mL min cm and a Faraday current efficiency of ~99%. After 100 h of long-term testing, the current can still remain stable and there is no significant change in performance. Therefore, the design of this interface has increasing potential for development.