Characterization and Stack Testing of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Cathodes Prepared by Infiltration

Abstract

A novel cell design consisting of a Ni/YSZ anode support, a Ni/YSZ anode, a zirconia-based electrolyte, and a porous stabilized zirconia backbone layer, infiltrated with a perovskite phase, is reported. The electrochemical performance of the large footprint (12 x 12 cm2) cells was tested both on single cell as well as stack level with promising results. The steady-state degradation rate of infiltrated cells in a stack was low (2.7 %/kh), despite the fact that changes in electrode microstructure and in-plane conductivity were observed, as the infiltrated cells were heat-treated to higher temperatures.

Preparation of SOFC Cathodes by Infiltration into LSF-YSZ Composite Scaffolds

“…Because capillarity is a far greater driving force than evacuation, vacuum infiltration does not increase the amount of fluid that enters the pores and does not affect the required number of cycles, an observation that has also been verified experimentally. 10 Although higher loadings could be achieved using a concentrated solution of oxide nanoparticles, 9 the ligands required to keep the nanoparticles suspended in solution are typically too large to significantly increase the loading per cycle.…”