Additive Manufacturing for Solid Oxide Cell Electrode Fabrication

Abstract

Additive manufacturing can potentially offer a highly-defined electrode microstructure, as well as fast and reproducible electrode fabrication. Selective laser sintering is an additive manufacturing technique in which three-dimensional structures are created by bonding subsequent layers of powder using a laser. Although selective laser sintering can be applied to a wide range of materials, including metals and ceramics, the scientific and technical aspects of the manufacturing parameters and their impact on microstructural evolution during the process are not well understood. In the present study, a novel approach for electrode fabrication using selective laser sintering was evaluated by conducting a proof of concept study. A Ni-patterned fuel electrode was laser sintered on an yttria-stabilized zirconia substrate. The optimization process of laser parameters (laser sintering rate and laser power) and the electrochemical results of a full cell with a laser sintered electrode are presented. The challenges and prospects of using selective laser sintering for solid oxide cell fabrication are discussed.

Accelerating Fuel Cell Development with Additive Manufacturing Technologies: State of the Art, Opportunities and Challenges

“…So far, AM has been demonstrated for the fabrication of flow field plates and gas diffusion layers (GDL) in PEMFCs, which act as an ionic conductor and reactants facilitator, respectively. Although some studies have reported 3D printed membranes and catalyst layers , , , they were, however, not directly demonstrated in a PEMFC system. Besides, graphene aerogel (GA) has drawn lots of research interests used as flow field plates and gas diffusion layers in the direct methanol fuel cells .…”

“…Lomberg et al. reported the fabrication of the anode with hierarchical porous microstructures enabled by SLS . The results showed that SLS has the potential to create bespoke electrode with well‐designed microstructure by manipulating the laser speed and laser power .…”

“…reported the fabrication of the anode with hierarchical porous microstructures enabled by SLS . The results showed that SLS has the potential to create bespoke electrode with well‐designed microstructure by manipulating the laser speed and laser power . The US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has suggested the spray coating technique to create 3D cathode configuration to increase the performance .…”

Materials selection and R&D for commercial fuel cells

“…Improving the stability of materials and designing more poison resistant materials will further extend the life of the fuel cell. The exiting developments in manufacturing – additive manufacturing/3D printing – offer new opportunities for fuel cells design and manufacture, and for materials R&D in the field . Reversible fuel cells, operating both as electrolysers and fuel cells, or SOFC‐based high temperature electrolysers are gaining significant interest for storing renewable electricity …”

Systematic Analysis on the Effect of Sintering Temperature for Optimized Performance of Li0.15Ni0.45Zn0.4O2-Gd0.2Ce0.8O2-Li2CO3-Na2CO3-K2CO3 Based 3D Printed Single-Layer Ceramic Fuel Cell

“…To bring this potential fuel cell technology closer to commercialization, there is a need to fabricate these devices with suitable up-scalable technologies such as printing methods. Digital manufacturing has been recently introduced to fabricate ceramic fuel cells [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Digital manufacturing offers various advantages over conventional printing techniques such as screen printing [ 38 , 39 ] and tape casting [ 40 , 41 ].…”