Effect of Deposition Temperature during Electrospray Fabrication of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

Ceramics can play a remarkable role in the engineering of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells(IT-SOFCs) capable of meeting the ambitious targets of reduced cost and improved lifetime. The electro-spray deposition(ESD) method has been successfully applied to fabricate the dense Yttria-stabilized Zirconia(YSZ) electrolyte layer and Gadolinium-doped Ceria(GDC) buffer layer of the Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with ceramic powders. In our experiment, we applied ESD method to fabricate the uniform and porous GDC-Lanthanum strontium cobaltite(LSC) cathode functional layer(CFL) and LSC current collector cathode layer(CCCL). The ESD process is proceeded with the electro-spray precursor solution which is composed with different ceramic powders and polyvinyl-pyrrolidone(PVP) or polyvinyl butyral(PVB) additives. In this thesis, we mainly explore the change of the structure and morphology of cathode with the different deposition temperature via electro-spray process and by utilizing the results of scanning electron microscopy(SEM) images and advanced rheometric expansion system(ARES), we analyze the reasons and put forward to some credible assumptions which can account for the results. Ultimately, by comparing the electrochemical characterization of the SOFCs, we extrude the superiority of the crack-free cells and conclude a simple and convenient way to fabricate crack-free and uniform cathode layers in PVP-assisted SOFCs.