Fabrication process for micropatterned ceramics via UV-nanoimprint lithography using UV-curable binder

Abstract

Ceramic electrochemical devices, such as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), require a high electrochemical reaction density. UV-nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) process comprising ceramic particles and a UV-curable resin as the binder was proposed to fabricate a high-aspect-patterned ceramic for SOFC. The proposed method was used to mold ceramic slurry with UV-curable binder that can cure with electrochemically-optimized ceramic particles. Last, the UV-cured ceramic was sintered, whereupon ceramic micropatterns were obtained on a ceramic substrate. The study chose a UV monomer and photo-initiator that would not contaminate SOFC material. The appropriate ratio of the monomer to the photo-initiator were investigated to conduct UV-NIL despite containing high ceramic concentration which absorbs UV wave length. The ratio of UV-curable resin to ceramic particles that resulted in minimal cracks during sintering process was found. Finally, the fabrication of ceramic pillar patterns was demonstrated.

Topology Optimization of Electrolyte-Electrode Interfaces of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells based on the Adjoint Method

“…The reaction current density, j reac (x), is assumed to obey the following equation, which is obtained by linearizing a Butler-Volmer type equation used in the previous study. 18 j reac (x) = 0, (x ∈ el ) j 0 L TPB 3F RT η act , (x ∈ ed ) [4] where T is the temperature and R is the gas constant. Note that there is no reaction current ( j reac = 0) in the electrolyte since no reaction takes place.…”

“…This procedure step is called adjoint analysis. 4. Update φ (n) to obtain φ (n+1) according to the following equation,…”

“…Farandos et al 3 developed a technique for preparing aqueous dispersions of material particles which is suitable for inkjet printing, and applied this technique to print micro-pillar arrays and square lattices. Okabe et al 4 demonstrated that nanoimprint lithography using UV-curable binder can produce a micro-pillar pattern with a high aspect ratio, i.e., a diameter of 7.76 μm and a height of 10.8 μm. Nagato et al 5 proposed magnetically-assisted screen printing, in which a magnetic field is applied to align material particles, i.e., Ni particles in anode.…”

Fabrication of micro/submicron hierarchical structures on ceramic sheet surfaces combining 2-step imprinting and in-plane compression processes

“…And a low-cost fabrication process for ceramics with dualscale micro/nano scale hierarchical structures has not been developed. [14][15][16][17][18][19] Ceramics are one of the most promising materials in various fields due to their hardness, strength, heat resistance, corrosion resistance and chemical resistance, while ceramics are difficult to microfabricate.…”

Topology Optimization of Electrolyte-Anode Interfaces in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

“…Therefore, many efforts have been made to understand the correlation between the electrochemical performance and the microstructures. Recently a growing number of experimental (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) and numerical (6)(7)(8)(9)(10) studies have been carried out to elucidate the effects of artificial structures added at the interfaces between the electrolyte and electrodes, and to establish the fabrication procedures for such structures. These are called meso-scale structures since they are larger than the original powder particles, but smaller than the scale of the entire cells.…”