Micro Solid Oxide Fuel Cells on Glass Ceramic Substrates

Abstract

Miniaturized solid oxide fuel cells are fabricated on a photostructurable glass ceramic substrate (Foturan) by thin film and micromachining techniques. The anode is a sputtered platinum film and the cathode is made of a spray pyrolysis (SP)‐deposited lanthanum strontium cobalt iron oxide (LSCF), a sputtered platinum film and platinum paste. A single‐layer of yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) made by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and a bilayer of PLD–YSZ and SP–YSZ are used as electrolytes. The total thickness of all layers is less than 1 µm and the cell is a free‐standing membrane with a diameter up to 200 µm. The electrolyte resistance and the sum of polarization resistances of the anode and cathode are measured between 400 and 600 °C by impedance spectroscopy and direct current (DC) techniques. The contribution of the electrolyte resistance to the total cell resistance is negligible for all cells. The area‐specific polarization resistance of the electrodes decreases for different cathode materials in the order of Pt paste > sputtered Pt > LSCF. The open circuit voltages (OCVs) of the single‐layer electrolyte cells ranges from 0.91 to 0.56 V at 550 °C. No electronic leakage in the PLD–YSZ electrolyte is found by in‐plane and cross‐plane electrical conductivity measurements and the low OCV is attributed to gas leakage through pinholes in the columnar microstructure of the electrolyte. By using a bilayer electrolyte of PLD–YSZ and SP–YSZ, an OCV of 1.06 V is obtained and the maximum power density reaches 152 mW cm−2 at 550 °C.

Porous La0.6Sr0.4CoO3−δ thin film cathodes for large area micro solid oxide fuel cell power generators

“…As earlier mentioned, Figure 8 also includes ASR values for two different porous Pt/YSZ interfaces: (i) based on Pt/YSZ/Pt membranes under real µSOFC operating conditions from three different research groups [4,8,9]; (ii) based on porous Pt films deposited on YSZ single crystal as reported by Ryll et al [17].…”

“…The micro SOFC (µSOFC) concept is based on the development of ultrathin electrolytes supported on low thermal mass structures [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. This combination keeps the main benefits of SOFC technology, i.e.…”

La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3 − thin films for IT-SOFCs: Microstructure and transport properties correlation

“…Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) operating at low temperatures are very promising devices for sustainable energy production both for stationary and mobile applications [1]. A viable means to reduce SOFCs operating temperature is to produce electrolytes in the form of thin films [2e4].…”

Micro-solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Yttria-stabilized Zirconia and Nanoporous Pt Electrodes

“…Recent studies have mainly investigated three types of micro-sized fuel cells [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] : a micropolymer electrolyte/proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a micro-direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), and a micro-solid oxide fuel cell (µSOFC). Both the PEMFC and DMFC exhibit fuel cell performance with a power density of 130 (195) mWcm −2 and 100 mWcm −2 in air (in ambient oxygen), respectively, but the PEMFC is disadvantageous in that one must safely treat explosive hydrogen and oxygen gases.…”

“…[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In particular, U. P. Muecke et al presented a µSOFC consisting of two Pt electrodes sandwiching a layer of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) on a glass ceramic substrate, which exhibited a maximum power density of about 150 mWcm −2 at 550 o C. 11 In this study, we present a Pt/YSZ/Pt µSOFC, where the two Pt electrodes forming the anode and cathode have almost uniform nanopores and a YSZ layer serves as the electrolyte. The Pt/ YSZ/Pt µSOFC was fabricated using deposition and etching techniques with anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanotemplates to form almost uniform nanopores on the Pt electrodes.…”