Effect of B-site Al substitution on hydrogen production of La0.4Sr0.6Mn1-xAlx (x1/40.4, 0.5 and 0.6) perovskite oxides

Thermochemical water splitting using perovskite oxides as redox materials is one of the important way to use solar energy to produce green hydrogen. Thus, it is hence important to discover new materials that can be used for this purpose. In this regard, we focused on Al-substituted La0.4Sr0.6Mn1-xAlxO3 (x = 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) perovskite oxides, namely as La0.4Sr0.6Mn0.6Al0.4 (LSMA4664), La0.4Sr0.6Mn0.5Al0.5 (LSMA4655), and La0.4Sr0.6Mn0.4Al0.6 (LSMA4646) which have been successfully synthesized. Herein, synthesized LSMA4664, LSMA4655, and LSMA4646 were subjected to three consecutive thermochemical cycles in order to determine their oxygen capacity, hydrogen capacity, re-oxidation capability and structural stability following three cycles. Thermochemical cycles were carried out at 1400 degrees C for reduction and 800 degrees C for the oxidation reaction. LSMA4646 exhibited the highest O2 production capacity with 275 mmol/g among the other perovskites employed in the study. Moreover, LSMA4646 has also the highest H2 production, 144 mmol/g, with 90% of re oxidation capability by the end of three thermochemical water splitting cycles. On the other hand, LSMA4664 has the lowest H2 production and only kept approximately onethird of its hydrogen production capacity by the end of cycles. Thus, the current study provides insight that the increase in the Al-substitution enhances both oxygen and hydrogen production capacity. Besides, increasing the Al amount increases the structural stability during the redox reactions, the re-oxidation capability was also increased from 38% to 89% after thermochemical cycles. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.