Electrophoretic deposition of dense BaCe0.9Y0.1O3−x electrolyte thick-films on Ni-based anodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

a b s t r a c tProton conducting BaCe 0.9 Y 0.1 O 3−x (BCY10) thick films are deposited on cermet anodes made of nickel-yttrium doped barium cerate using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. BCY10 powders are prepared by the citrate-nitrate auto-combustion method and the cermet anodes are prepared by the evaporation and decomposition solution and suspension method. The EPD parameters are optimized and the deposition time is varied between 1 and 5 min to obtain films with different thicknesses. The anode substrates and electrolyte films are co-sintered at 1550 • C for 2 h to obtain a dense electrolyte film keeping a suitable porosity in the anode, with a single heating treatment. The samples are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS). A prototype fuel cell is prepared depositing a composite La 0.8 Sr 0.2 Co 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3 (LSCF)-BaCe 0.9 Yb 0.1 O 3−ı (10YbBC) cathode on the co-sintered half cell. Fuel cell tests that are performed at 650 • C on the prototype single cells show a maximum power density of 174 mW cm −2 .

Electrode materials: a challenge for the exploitation of protonic solid oxide fuel cells

“…Differently, the formation of secondary phases has not been reported in studies of composite anodes made of Ni/doped barium cerate [49,53,54], Ni/BaCe 0.7 Zr 0.1 Y 0.2 O 3−δ (BCZY) [55][56][57][58], and Ni/BZY [59], even after thermal treatments at temperatures as high as 1400…”

Anode Supported Protonic Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Fabricated Using Electrophoretic Deposition

“…EPD has also been used in SOFC technology for deposition of oxygen ion conductor electrolyte thick films on anode or cathode porous substrates [22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. To the best of our knowledge, apart from our preliminary study [29], EPD was never used for the deposition of proton conductor electrolyte thick films. EPD and is still not a widespread method in the field of SOFCs.…”

“…In this study we used EPD for fabrication of SOFCs based on proton conductor electrolytes, in a continuation of research efforts made by the group in this field [29,34,35]. For this purpose, we assembled previously developed fuel cell components.…”

“…Dense films of BaCe 0.9 Y 0.1 O 3-x (BCY10) proton conductor were deposited on green nickel oxide-yttrium doped barium cerate (NiO-BCY10) substrate [36]. The optimised co-sintering temperature (T = 1,550°C) allowed to get homogeneous, dense electrolyte BCY10 thick films coupled to anodes with suitable porosity [29] [37,38], were used as cathodes, where LSCF is a mixed oxygen ion-electronic conductor and 10YbBC a mixed protonic/electronic conductor. The previously fabricated prototypes were analysed in fuel cell tests obtaining a max power density of 174 mW cm -2 at 650°C [29].…”

A Tri-Layer Proton-Conducting Electrolyte for Chemically Stable Operation in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

“…Y is the mostly used dopant in the BaCeO 3 -BaZrO 3 system because Y-doped samples show superior conductivity than that measured for other dopants. It is generally regarded that Y-doped BaCeO 3 (BCY) shows the largest ionic conductivity among proton-conducting oxides (9), and therefore several works use BCY as the electrolyte in proton-conducting SOFCs to effectively improve the cell performance (10,11). However, the poor chemical stability of BCY makes this material unsuitable for practical applications.…”