Reduced-temperature firing of solid oxide fuel cells with zirconia/ceria bi-layer electrolytes

Zhan Gao; David Kennouche; Scott A. Barnett

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.025

Reduced-temperature firing of solid oxide fuel cells with zirconia/ceria bi-layer electrolytes

Zhan Gao^*, David Kennouche, Scott A. Barnett

^*Corresponding author for this work

Materials Science and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with bi-layer Zirconia/Ceria electrolytes have been studied extensively because of their great potential for producing high power density at reduced operating temperature, important for reducing cost and thereby allowing broader SOFC commercialization. The bi-layer electrolytes are designed to take advantage of the high oxygen ion conductivity of Ceria, the low electronic conductivity of Zirconia, and the low reactivity of Ceria with high-performance cathodes. However, zirconia/ceria processing has proven problematic due to interdiffusion during high temperature co-firing, or ceria layer porosity after two-step firing. Here we first show a new method for bi-layer co-firing at a reduced temperature of 1250 °C, ∼150°C lower than the usual sintering temperature, achieved using Fe₂O ₃ as a sintering aid. This novel process enables high power density SOFCs by producing: (1) low-resistance Y_0.16Zr_0.92O _2-δ (YSZ)/Gd_0.1Ce_0.9O_1.95 (GDC) electrolytes that also yield high open-circuit voltage, (2) dense GDC layers that prevent reactions between highly-active La_0.6Sr _0.4Fe_0.8Co_0.2O₃ (LSFC) cathode materials and YSZ, and (3) Ni-YSZ anodes with high electrochemical activity due to fine-scale microstructure with high TPB densities.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	259-263
Number of pages	5
Journal	Journal of Power Sources
Volume	260
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.025
State	Published - Aug 15 2014

Funding

This work is financially supported by the Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP, grant No. 51922 ). The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Foundation Ceramics Program through Grant DMR-0907639 , through which D.K. was supported to do the tomography work. The FIB-SEM was carried out in the Electron Microscopy Center for Materials Research at Argonne National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy Office of Science Laboratory operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 by UChicago Argonne, LLC.

Keywords

Bi-layer electrolyte
Interdiffusion
Reduced-temperature firing
Sintering aid
Solid oxide fuel cell

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Energy Engineering and Power Technology
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.025

Cite this

@article{3e73d91b007c4431a58fb7d64217c13d,

title = "Reduced-temperature firing of solid oxide fuel cells with zirconia/ceria bi-layer electrolytes",

abstract = "Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with bi-layer Zirconia/Ceria electrolytes have been studied extensively because of their great potential for producing high power density at reduced operating temperature, important for reducing cost and thereby allowing broader SOFC commercialization. The bi-layer electrolytes are designed to take advantage of the high oxygen ion conductivity of Ceria, the low electronic conductivity of Zirconia, and the low reactivity of Ceria with high-performance cathodes. However, zirconia/ceria processing has proven problematic due to interdiffusion during high temperature co-firing, or ceria layer porosity after two-step firing. Here we first show a new method for bi-layer co-firing at a reduced temperature of 1250 °C, ∼150°C lower than the usual sintering temperature, achieved using Fe2O 3 as a sintering aid. This novel process enables high power density SOFCs by producing: (1) low-resistance Y0.16Zr0.92O 2-δ (YSZ)/Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 (GDC) electrolytes that also yield high open-circuit voltage, (2) dense GDC layers that prevent reactions between highly-active La0.6Sr 0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 (LSFC) cathode materials and YSZ, and (3) Ni-YSZ anodes with high electrochemical activity due to fine-scale microstructure with high TPB densities.",

keywords = "Bi-layer electrolyte, Interdiffusion, Reduced-temperature firing, Sintering aid, Solid oxide fuel cell",

author = "Zhan Gao and David Kennouche and Barnett, {Scott A.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work is financially supported by the Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP, grant No. 51922 ). The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Foundation Ceramics Program through Grant DMR-0907639 , through which D.K. was supported to do the tomography work. The FIB-SEM was carried out in the Electron Microscopy Center for Materials Research at Argonne National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy Office of Science Laboratory operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 by UChicago Argonne, LLC. ",

year = "2014",

month = aug,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.025",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "260",

pages = "259--263",

journal = "Journal of Power Sources",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Reduced-temperature firing of solid oxide fuel cells with zirconia/ceria bi-layer electrolytes

AU - Gao, Zhan

AU - Kennouche, David

AU - Barnett, Scott A.

N1 - Funding Information: This work is financially supported by the Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP, grant No. 51922 ). The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Foundation Ceramics Program through Grant DMR-0907639 , through which D.K. was supported to do the tomography work. The FIB-SEM was carried out in the Electron Microscopy Center for Materials Research at Argonne National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy Office of Science Laboratory operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 by UChicago Argonne, LLC.

PY - 2014/8/15

Y1 - 2014/8/15

N2 - Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with bi-layer Zirconia/Ceria electrolytes have been studied extensively because of their great potential for producing high power density at reduced operating temperature, important for reducing cost and thereby allowing broader SOFC commercialization. The bi-layer electrolytes are designed to take advantage of the high oxygen ion conductivity of Ceria, the low electronic conductivity of Zirconia, and the low reactivity of Ceria with high-performance cathodes. However, zirconia/ceria processing has proven problematic due to interdiffusion during high temperature co-firing, or ceria layer porosity after two-step firing. Here we first show a new method for bi-layer co-firing at a reduced temperature of 1250 °C, ∼150°C lower than the usual sintering temperature, achieved using Fe2O 3 as a sintering aid. This novel process enables high power density SOFCs by producing: (1) low-resistance Y0.16Zr0.92O 2-δ (YSZ)/Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 (GDC) electrolytes that also yield high open-circuit voltage, (2) dense GDC layers that prevent reactions between highly-active La0.6Sr 0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 (LSFC) cathode materials and YSZ, and (3) Ni-YSZ anodes with high electrochemical activity due to fine-scale microstructure with high TPB densities.

AB - Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with bi-layer Zirconia/Ceria electrolytes have been studied extensively because of their great potential for producing high power density at reduced operating temperature, important for reducing cost and thereby allowing broader SOFC commercialization. The bi-layer electrolytes are designed to take advantage of the high oxygen ion conductivity of Ceria, the low electronic conductivity of Zirconia, and the low reactivity of Ceria with high-performance cathodes. However, zirconia/ceria processing has proven problematic due to interdiffusion during high temperature co-firing, or ceria layer porosity after two-step firing. Here we first show a new method for bi-layer co-firing at a reduced temperature of 1250 °C, ∼150°C lower than the usual sintering temperature, achieved using Fe2O 3 as a sintering aid. This novel process enables high power density SOFCs by producing: (1) low-resistance Y0.16Zr0.92O 2-δ (YSZ)/Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 (GDC) electrolytes that also yield high open-circuit voltage, (2) dense GDC layers that prevent reactions between highly-active La0.6Sr 0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 (LSFC) cathode materials and YSZ, and (3) Ni-YSZ anodes with high electrochemical activity due to fine-scale microstructure with high TPB densities.

KW - Bi-layer electrolyte

KW - Interdiffusion

KW - Reduced-temperature firing

KW - Sintering aid

KW - Solid oxide fuel cell

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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.025

DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.025

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84897524941

SN - 0378-7753

VL - 260

SP - 259

EP - 263

JO - Journal of Power Sources

JF - Journal of Power Sources

ER -

Reduced-temperature firing of solid oxide fuel cells with zirconia/ceria bi-layer electrolytes

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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