Fabrication of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes by electrophoretic deposition of NiO-YSZ composite powder

Abstract

In the present work, the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) process was utillized to fabricate NiO-YSZ composite layer for SOFC anodes on stainless steel substrate. Various suspensions were examined and it was found that co-deposition of the composite layer could be performed more sucsessfully in isopropanol interms of the suspension stability and deposition quality. The EPD parameters were tailored by a trial-and-error-approach to obtain crack-free layers. The effect of applied dc voltage from 50 to 300 V and deposition time from 30 sec to 10 min on the deposition weight, thickness and composition was also studied. The results determined that the presence of nickel oxide nanoparticles in the suspension increases the NiO content of the deposit while improving the microscopic feature of deposition.

Keywords

• Solid oxide fuel cell
• Electrophoretic deposition
• Composite
• YSZ
• NiO

20.1001.1.22285946.1389.1.1.8.2

---

References

1. Atkinson, A., et al., Advanced anodes for high-temperature fuel cells. Nat Mater, 2004. 3(1): p. 17-27.
2. Fergus, J.W., et al., Solid oxide fuel cells : materials properties and performance. 2009: CRC Press.
3. Tatsumi, I., S. Keiji, and T. Yusaku, Electrophoretic Deposition of Y₂O₃-Stabilized ZrO₂ Electrolyte Films in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 1996. 79(4): p. 913-919.
4. Fleig, J.r., SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL CATHODES: Polarization Mechanisms and Modeling of the Electrochemical Performance. Annual Review of Materials Research, 2003. 33(1): p. 361-382.
5. San Ping, J. and C. Siew Hwa, A review of anode materials development in solid oxide fuel cells. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 2004. 39(14): p. 4405-4439.
6. Goodenough, J.B. and Y.-H. Huang, Alternative anode materials for solid oxide fuel cells. Journal of Power Sources, 2007. 173(1): p. 1-10.
7. Hassan, A., et al., Development of an Optimized Anode Functional Layer for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications. Advanced Engineering Materials, 2002. 4(3): p. 125-129.
8. Zhao, F. and A.V. Virkar, Dependence of polarization in anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells on various cell parameters. Journal of Power Sources, 2005. 141(1): p. 79-95.
9. Leng, Y.J., et al., Performance evaluation of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells with thin film YSZ electrolyte. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2004. 29(10): p. 1025-1033.
10. Koide, H., et al., Properties of Ni/YSZ cermet as anode for SOFC. Solid State Ionics, 2000. 132(3-4): p. 253-260.
11. Radovic, M. and E. Lara-Curzio, Mechanical properties of tape cast nickel-based anode materials for solid oxide fuel cells before and after reduction in hydrogen. Acta Materialia, 2004. 52(20): p. 5747-5756.
12. Zhang, Y., et al., Dip-coating thin yttria-stabilized zirconia films for solid oxide fuel cell applications. Ceramics International, 2004. 30(6): p. 1049-1053.
13. Rotureau, D., et al., Development of a planar SOFC device using screen-printing technology. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2005. 25(12): p. 2633-2636.
14. Aruna, S.T. and K.S. Rajam, A study on the electrophoretic deposition of 8YSZ coating using mixture of acetone and ethanol solvents. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2008. 111(1): p. 131-136.
15. Boccaccini, A., Electrophoretic deposition: fundamentals and applications in materials science. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, 2006. 41(24): p. 8029-8030.
16. Kanamura, K. and J.-i. Hamagami, Innovation of novel functional material processing technique by using electrophoretic deposition process. Solid State Ionics, 2004. 172(1-4): p. 303-308.
17. Boccaccini, A.R. and I. Zhitomirsky, Application of electrophoretic and electrolytic deposition techniques in ceramics processing. Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, 2002. 6(3): p. 251-260.
18. Corni, I., M.P. Ryan, and A.R. Boccaccini, Electrophoretic deposition: From traditional ceramics to nanotechnology. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2008. 28(7): p. 1353-1367.
19. Ferrari, B.a. and R. Moreno, EPD kinetics: A review. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. 30(5): p. 1069-1078.
20. Abdoli, H., et al., Fabrication of aluminum nitride coatings by electrophoretic deposition: Effect of particle size on deposition and drying behavior. Ceramics International. 37(1): p. 313-319.
21. Besra, L., S. Zha, and M. Liu, Preparation of NiO-YSZ/YSZ bi-layers for solid oxide fuel cells by electrophoretic deposition. Journal of Power Sources, 2006. 160(1): p. 207-214.
22. Besra, L. and M. Liu, A review on fundamentals and applications of electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Progress in Materials Science, 2007. 52(1): p. 1-61.
23. Kong, J., et al., Ni-YSZ gradient anodes for anode-supported SOFCs. Journal of Power Sources, 2007. 166(2): p. 337-342.