Bilayer Electrolyte Thin Films Gadolinia Doped Ceria /Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition for Electrochemichal Devices

Abstract

In this paper bilayer thin films of 10CGO/8YSZ electrolyte with enhanced O2- conductivity composed of gadolinia doped CeO2 (Ce0,9Gd0,1O2-) and yttria stabilized zirconia 8 mol% Y2O3 doped ZrO2 layers were deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) using various numbers of pulses. This composite has supplementary function in electrochemical devices because 10 CGO can act as interdiffusion barrier with cathode materials. The structure and morphology of these thin films, having thicknesses smaller than 1µm, were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The XRD patterns exhibit cubic fluorite structure with a sharp (111) peak. The grain size was found to depend on the thickness. Optical characterization was carried out by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) using the Tauc-Lorentz model. Keywords: Laser ablation, Electrolytes, Bilayer Thin Films, Tauc - Lorentz Model, Electrochemical Fuel Cells Devices