Phase inversion tape casting and electrochemical performance of solid oxide fuel cell anode

Abstract

For an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), the anode consists of a thick support layer with large pores and a thin functional layer with small pores. In the present work, the anode of NiO and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) comprising a porous support layer of ~700 μm thick and a functional layer of ~60 μm thick were formed in a single step using the phase inversion tape casting method. For the as-prepared anode, the support layer contained large open pores which were aligned along the thickness direction. A thin dense YSZ electrolyte layer with a thickness of 15 μm was deposited onto the anode by dip-coating and co-sintering techniques. A composite cathode of YSZ-La0.8Sr0.2MnO3-δ (LSM) with a weight ratio of 50:50 was screen-printed on the surface of the YSZ electrolyte layer. The resulting fuel cell exhibited promising electrochemical performance. A maximum power density of 891 mW/cm2 was obtained at 800℃ using H2-3% H2O as the fuel and ambient air as the oxidant. The cell did not show any sign of concentration polarization even at high current densities, which should be attributed to the open straight pore structure and resultant fast gas-phase transport in the anode support.