Free standing oxide alloy electrolytes for low temperature thin film solid oxide fuel cells

• Published in: Journal of power sources Vol. 202; pp. 120 - 125
• Main Authors: Kerman, Kian, Lai, Bo-Kuai, Ramanathan, Shriram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.03.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: alloy electrolyte; Applied sciences; CGO; Co-sputtering; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Free standing; Fuel cells; Thin film solid oxide fuel cell; YSZ; Co-sputtering; YSZ; CGO; Thin film solid oxide fuel cell; alloy electrolyte; Free standing; Chemical stability; Ionic conductors; Thermomechanical properties; Stabilized zirconia; Cerium oxide; Solid solution; Solid oxide fuel cell; Implementation; Sputtering; Thin film; Gadolinium oxides; Zirconium oxide; Electrolyte; Yttrium oxide; Fuel cell; Low temperature
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2011.11.062

► Oxide alloy of CGO and YSZ fabricated by co-sputtering. ► Conductivity and free standing membrane stability studied as a function of composition. ► Free standing, thin film SOFCs exhibit power density of over 1000 mW cm −2 at 510 °C. ► Stable OCV maintained for over 50 h of continuous testing. Thermomechanical challenges place restrictions on the choice of fast ion conductors that may be implemented as free standing electrolyte membranes for low temperature solid oxide fuel cells. In order to expand the possible choices, mechanical and chemical stability constraints must be taken into consideration. Here, we present a method to utilize the mechanical stability of a ZrO 2 based electrolyte for this application. Facile low temperature synthesis of solid solution (Y 2O 3) 0.08(ZrO 2) 0.92–(Gd 2O 3) 0.1(CeO 2) 0.9 free standing electrolytes by co-sputtering is demonstrated. Fuel cells integrating these nanoscale electrolytes show power output of over 1000 mW cm −2 at 510 °C and are thermomechanically robust. The results demonstrate a general route for low temperature synthesis of nanoscale functional oxide alloys for thin film solid oxide fuel cells.