Synthesis of Highly Porous SrTiO₃ Materials

Strontium titanate is a perovskite with a great potential to act as an anode material for solid oxide fuel cells. The requirements for these materials concern not only electrical but also microstructural properties. The strontium titanate with regular pore structure can exhibit lower flow resistance compared to random pore distributed materials. Several methods of synthesis (with addition of various organic agents) allowed obtaining materials with regular/irregular pore structure. Regardless of synthesis methods all materials showed high porosity (above 40 vol.%). Additionally it was found that three-dimensionally ordered macroporous structure collapsed after sintering at 1200°C whereas macro-mesoporous structure of P-123 modified strontium titanate had persisted.