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Highly enhanced electrochemical performance of silicon-free platinum–yttria stabilized zirconia interfaces

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Abstract

In the drive to achieve economically viable solid oxide fuel cells, efforts have been directed towards substantially decreasing their operating temperature. Unfortunately, these efforts have been hindered by extremely sluggish electrode kinetics at reduced temperatures. In this report, we show that silicon impurities on the surface of the electrolyte play a critical role in influencing electrode kinetics. More specifically, improvements by as much as three orders of magnitude are reported for the performance of platinum electrodes on yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolytes prepared as high purity thin films with a largely Si-free surface. These improvements in performance are estimated to enable operation of a solid oxide fuel cell down to approximately 400 °C.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Program administered by the Army Research Office under Grant No. DAAD19-01-1-0566. This work made use of the Shared Experimental Facilities supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under award number DMR 02-13282. The authors thank Joseph Bullard and Elisabeth Shaw for assistance in obtaining the XPS data.

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Author notes

  1. Joshua L. Hertz

    Present address: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, MS8362, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

  2. Avner Rothschild

    Present address: Department of Materials Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa, 32000, Israel

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Joshua L. Hertz, Avner Rothschild & Harry L. Tuller

Authors
  1. Joshua L. Hertz
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  2. Avner Rothschild
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  3. Harry L. Tuller
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Correspondence to Joshua L. Hertz.

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Hertz, J.L., Rothschild, A. & Tuller, H.L. Highly enhanced electrochemical performance of silicon-free platinum–yttria stabilized zirconia interfaces. J Electroceram 22, 428–435 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10832-008-9475-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10832-008-9475-5

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