Abstract
A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with a thin-film yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte was developed and tested. This novel SOFC shows a similar multilayer set-up as other current anode-supported SOFCs and is composed of a Ni/8YSZ anode, a gas-tight 8YSZ electrolyte layer, a dense Sr-diffusion barrier layer and a LSCF cathode. To increase the power density and lower the SOFC operating temperature, the thickness of the electrolyte layer was reduced from around 10 μm in current cells to 1 μm, using a nanoparticle deposition method. By using the novel 1 μm electrolyte layer, the current density of our SOFC progressed to 2.7, 2.1 and 1.6 A/cm2 at operation temperatures of 800, 700 and 650°C, respectively, and out-performs all similar cells reported to date in the literature. An important consideration is also that cost-effective dip-coating and spin-coating methods are applied for the fabrication of the thin-film electrolyte. Processing of 1 μm layers on the very porous anode substrate material was initially experienced as very difficult and therefore 8YSZ nanoparticle coatings were developed and optimized on porous 8YSZ model substrates and transferred afterwards to regular anode substrates. In this paper, the preparation of the novel SOFC is shown and its morphology is illustrated with high resolution SEM pictures. Further, the performance in a standard SOFC test is demonstrated.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chen X, Wu NJ, Smith L, Ignatiev A (2004) Thin-film heterostructure solid oxide fuel cells. Appl Phys Lett 84(14):2700–2702
Chuna SY, Mizutani N (2001) The transport mechanism of YSZ thin films prepared by MOCVD. Appl Surf Sci 171:82–88
De Jonghe LC, Jacobson CP, Visco SJ (2003) Supported electrolyte thin film synthesis of solid oxide fuel cells. Annu Rev Mater Res 33:169–182
Gannon P, Sofie S, Deibert M, Smith R, Gorokhovsk V (2009) Thin film YSZ coatings on functionally graded freeze cast NiO/YSZ SOFC anode supports. J Appl Electrochem 39:497–502
Kharton VV, Marques FMB, Atkinson A (2004) Transport properties of solid oxide electrolyte ceramics: a brief review. Solid State Ion 174:135–149
Kueper TW, Visco SJ, De Jonghe LC (1992) Thin-film ceramic electrolytes deposited on porous and non-porous substrates by sol-gel techniques. Solid State Ion 52:251–259
Meng G, Song H, Xia C, Liu X, Peng D (2004) Novel CVD techniques for micro and IT-SOFC fabrication. Fuel Cells 4(1–2):48–55
Menzler NH, Tietz F, Uhlenbruck S, Buchkremer HP, Stöver D (2010) Materials and manufacturing technologies for solid oxide fuel cells. J Mater Sci 45:3109–3135
Park Y, Su PC, Cha SW, Saito Y, Prinz FB (2006) Thin-film SOFCs using gastight YSZ thin films on nanoporous substrates. J Electrochem Soc 153(2):A431–A436
Rose L, Kesler O, Tang Z, Burgess A (2007) Application of sol gel spin coated yttria-stabilized zirconia layers for the improvement of solid oxide fuel cell electrolytes produced by atmospheric plasma spraying. J Pow Sour 167:340–348
Schafbauer W, Menzler NH, Buchkremer HP (2009) Influence of thermal treatment during cell manufacturing on the performance of tape cast solid oxide fuel cells. ECS Trans 25(2):649–654
Su PC, Chao CC, Shim JH, Fasching R, Prinz FB (2008) Solid oxide fuel cell with corrugated thin film electrolyte. Nano Lett 8(8):2289–2292
Tietz F, Fu Q, Haanappel VAC, Mai A, Menzler NH, Uhlenbruck S (2007) Materials development for advanced planar solid oxide fuel cells. Int J Appl Ceram Technol 4(5):436–445
Uhlenbruck S, Jordan N, Sebold D, Buchkremer HP, Haanappel VAC, Stöver D (2007) Thin film coating technologies of (Ce, Gd)O2-δ interlayers for application in ceramic high-temperature fuel cells. Thin Solid Films 515:4053–4060
Van Gestel T, Sebold D, Kruidhof H, Bouwmeester HJM (2008) ZrO2 and TiO2 membranes for nanofiltration and pervaporation. Part 2. Development of ZrO2 and TiO2 toplayers for pervaporation. J Memb Sci 318:413–421
Van Gestel T, Meulenberg WA, Bram M, Buchkremer HP (2009) Manufacturing of ceramic membranes consisting of ZrO2 with tailored microporous structures for nanofiltration and gas separation membranes. Ceram Eng Sci Proc 29(8):37–48
Van Gestel T, Sebold D, Hauler F, Meulenberg WA, Buchkremer HP (2010) Potentialities of microporous membranes for H2/CO2-separation in future fossil fuel power plants: Evaluation of SiO2, ZrO2, Y2O3-ZrO2 and TiO2-ZrO2 sol-gel membranes. J Memb Sci 359:64–79
Van Gestel T, Sebold D, Buchkremer HP, Stöver D (2011) Assembly of 8YSZ nano-particles into gas-tight 1–2 μm thick 8YSZ electrolyte layers using wet-coating methods. J Eur Ceram Soc (submitted for publication)
Wachsman ED, Singhal SC (2010) Solid oxide fuel cell commercialization, research and challenges. Am Ceram Soc Bul 89(3):22–32
Acknowledgments
Dr. V. A. C. Haanappel is acknowledged for providing the single cell test results. Dr. W. Schafbauer, W. Herzhof, F. Vondahlen and Dr. R. Nedelec are thanked for providing the anode substrates and the CGO Sr-diffusion barrier layer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Van Gestel, T., Han, F., Sebold, D. et al. Nano-structured solid oxide fuel cell design with superior power output at high and intermediate operation temperatures. Microsyst Technol 17, 233–242 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-011-1257-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-011-1257-3