Thin Film Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Deposited by Spray Pyrolysis

Abstract

Two techniques of spray pyrolysis, namely, electrostatic and pneumatic spray deposition, were used to deposit samaria-doped ceria (SDC) electrolyte and lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSCF) cathode on cermet or metal supported anodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) operated at reduced temperature. The deposition processes, the properties of the deposited films, and the electrochemical performances of the fabricated cells are reported in this paper. The deposited SDC electrolytes were dense and gas-tight, and had good adhesion to the underlying anodes. The deposited LSCF cathode had a preferred morphology to facilitate the transport of oxygen gas and effective contact with the electrolyte. Button cell testing indicated that the SOFCs with electrolyte or cathode deposited by spray pyrolysis had good electrochemical performance. This study demonstrated that spray pyrolysis is a cost-effective process for fabricating thin film SOFCs, especially metal supported SOFCs.

Influence of the process parameters on the spray pyrolysis technique, on the synthesis of gadolinium doped-ceria thin film

“…The films obtained in the present work were elaborated from a spray pyrolysis apparatus that was developed at the National Research Council Canada (NRC-IFCI) and the procedure is described in details elsewhere [30]. The precursor solution was atomized using forced air and deposited onto various substrates preheated to 600 8C.…”

“…This design reduces heat loss and contributes for the film crystallization [30]. The substrate was heated to 600 8C at rate of 10 8C/min.…”

Nanocomposite Coating of Multilayered Carbon Nanotube–Titania

“…Thin film coatings are normally stable and permit transmittance [21]. Thin films can be synthesized by various processes, including sol-gel methods [22], chemical vapor deposition, sputter coating [33], spin coating, and spray pyrolysis [23][24][25][26][27]. Layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly technique is a versatile route in the film preparation, which is capable of depositing a diversity of materials on various substrates with controlled thickness [28,29,30,35].…”

Dense Protective Coatings for SOFC Interconnect Deposited by Spray Pyrolysis

“…This is attributed to a good oxide scale adherence and CTE match between the coatings and substrate as well as a good structural stability of the coatings. The grains of the two coatings have grown from the original nanometer size (as deposited oxide coatings by spray pyrolysis typically have grain sizes less than 20 nm [8]) to micron size and sub-micron size, respectively. The shallow micro-cracks on the top of the doped ceria coating have healed after the high temperature exposure.…”