Layered microstructures based on BaZr0.85Y0.15O3−δ by pulsed laser deposition for metal-supported proton ceramic electrolyser cells

Abstract

Planar metal-supported cell designs provide cost-effective scaling-up of solid oxide fuel cells and electrolyzers. Here, we report on the fabrication of a BaZr 0.85 Y 0.15 O 3-δ-NiO (BZY15-NiO) composite electrode and BaZr 0.85 Y 0.15 O 3-δ (BZY15) proton conducting electrolyte films on metal and ceramic substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The results demonstrate successful sequential deposition of porous electrode and dense electrolyte structure by PLD at moderate temperatures, without the need for subsequent high temperature sintering. The decrease in roughness of the metal substrate used for deposition by spray-coating intermediary oxide layers had significant importance to the fabrication of functional layers as thin films. Crystalline porous BZY15-NiO and dense BZY15 films were sequentially deposited at high substrate temperature on metal supports (MS) with or without an electron-conducting barrier oxide layer, e.g. MS/(BZY15-Ni)/(BZY15-NiO)/BZY15 and MS/CeO 2 /(BZY15-NiO)/BZY15. The different microstructures for electrode and electrolyte were achieved with deposition steps at different substrate temperatures (800, 600 °C) and a gradual decrease of the pressure of O 2 in the deposition chamber.

Detrimental Effect of Sintering Additives on Conducting Ceramics: Yttrium‐Doped Barium Zirconate

“…According to this study,e liminating NiO from the electrolyte leads to ah igh OCV and high proton conductivity.R elatively high OCV values were reported.H owever, we need to discuss the conductivity.U sing the ohmic resistance and thickness of the electrolyte layer,t he conductivity of the BZY20 and BZY15 electrolyte layers in the works of Pergolesie tal. [61] In addition, the process to apply PLD fort he deposition of BZY also needs to be optimized for fuel cell applications. One reason could be the off-stoichiometry and another reasonc ould be the ohmic resistance in the electrode layers.T he anode substrate in the work of Pergolesi, et al [23] containedo nly 26 wt %N iO, far from the appropriate NiO content of approximately 40-70 wt %.…”

“…Therefore, the measured ohmic resistance may not solely reflectt he contributionf rom the electrolyte layer.A t present, the PLD method is still expensive and not suitablef or the deposition of thin films at al arge scale. [61] In addition, the process to apply PLD fort he deposition of BZY also needs to be optimized for fuel cell applications.…”

Self-sustainable protonic ceramic electrochemical cells using a triple conducting electrode for hydrogen and power production

“…The application of PCECs demonstrates the uniqueness of combining the bi-function of energy storage and distributed power generation by integrating PCEC and balance of the plant into one system. As significant advances have been made in solid state proton conductors and related electrochemical cells (fuel cells and electrolzyers) in the past decade 5,6 , PCEC represents a promising technology for the purpose of achieving low-cost energy storage and conversion at reduced temperatures by offering attracting advantages such as high efficiency 7,8 , longer system durability [9][10][11] , and less expensive materials 12,13 . However, the large-scale deployment of PCECs still remains elusive by severe limitation on developing highly active and robust electrode due to sluggish electrode kinetic at intermediate temperatures and decayed lifetime of the material and interface, especially under high-steam concentration 14,15 .…”

Approaches for co-sintering metal-supported proton-conducting solid oxide cells with Ba(Zr,Ce,Y,Yb)O3-δ electrolyte

“…Recently, Stange et al successfully prepared a complete half-cell on ferritic stainless steel support, with barium yttrium zirconate-Ni (BZY-Ni) electrode and BZY electrolyte deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [25,26]. Under electrolysis conditions (hydrogen vs. steam), the cell displayed a high total resistance of 40 Ohm•cm 2 at 600 °C, indicating that significant optimization effort remains to achieve the performance expected for a BZY-based cell.…”