Combinatorial Deposition of Pinhole-Free and High-Performance, Nanothin Electrolyte for Hydrogen-Fueled, Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Supported on a Porous Substrate
摘要
The bi-layered, oxygen-ion conducting ceramic electrolyte as thin as 200 nm is fabricated through combining two vacuum deposition methods, atomic layer deposition (ALD) and sputtering, for anodic aluminum oxide (AAO)-supporting solid oxide fuel cells fueled with H2 operated at 500 °C. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte is deposited on the anode side by ALD and gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) electrolyte is deposited on the cathode side by sputtering. When an AAO substrate with the average pore size of 207 nm and 300 nm Pt anode are used for underlying elements, 40 nm ALD YSZ electrolyte generates low open circuit voltage of 0.67 V but 140 nm ALD YSZ electrolyte generates high open circuit voltage of 1.15 V. And, by extension, depositing 60 nm sputtering GDC electrolyte onto 140 nm ALD YSZ electrolyte leads to an increase in peak power density by 77%.