S. Tahereh Hashemi - Material Science & Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Niloofar Soltani - Material Science & Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Amirmasoud Dayaghi - Material Science & Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Masoud Askari - Material Science & Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Mn1.5Co1.5O4 based spinels are of great interest as raw materials in coating of interconnects in solid oxide fuel cells. Nano-crystalline Mn1.5Co1.5O4 spinels have been synthesized from aqueous solution of metal nitrate containing citric acid as a chelating agent using sol-gel method. The effect of annealing time and temperature were also evaluated at various annealing times (2h, 4h) and annealing temperatures (800, 950, 1050 oC) through X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis to optimize the amount of nano-crystalline Mn1.5Co1.5O4. Results showed that the calcination temperature and time are playing significant roles in the formation of the single-phase and at the same time on the size of nano-crystalline Mn1.5Co1.5O4. More Mn1.5Co1.5O4 was obtained at higher temperatures and longer times as lower temperatures and shorter times were resulted in Mn1.5Co1.5O4 with smaller crystallite size .The optimum time and temperature were selected to synthesize Mn1.5Co1.5O4 with smallest size. The thermal behavior of the material has been examined by Thermogravimetry (TG) and Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA).

Sol-gel, Mn1.5Co1.5O4, fuel cells,nano