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   ANM 2010
    3rd International Conference on Advanced Nano Materials
    12-15 September 2010 - Agadir, Morocco

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   Abstract


ANMM115
HIGH-PERFORMANCE INTERMEDIATE TEMPERATURE SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELLS (IT-SOFCS) WITH ELECTROLYTE FILMS PREPARED BY ELECTROPHORETIC DEPOSITION
Riccardo Polini, Francesco Bozza, Enrico Traversa
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche
Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome (Italy)
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Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have attracted a considerable attention due to their high-energy conversion efficiency and fuel flexibility. SOFCs use ceramic substances as electrolytes and have shown considerable promise for a variety of applications ranging from mobile devices to stationary power plants.
A significant boost to the reduction in the manufacturing cost of SOFCs would be achieved if readily available and easily formed metals, such as ferritic stainless steels, could be used for the interconnect plate and gas manifolding. However, the problems of high temperature corrosion mean this is only realistic if the operating temperature is reduced to temperatures below 800 °C. A further reduction of the operating temperature would also lead to an increase in stack reliability and lifetime.
To decrease the operating temperature of SOFCs the internal resistance of the cell must be reduced. This goal can be obtained by using oxygen ion conductors with superior ionic conductivity values at 600–800 °C. Perovskites with composition La1–xSrxGa1–yMgyO3–δ, with δ = (x+y)/2, are amongst the most promising electrolyte materials for IT-SOFCs. IT-SOFCs based on LSGM can be operated at 750 °C, and even lower operating temperatures could be achieved by using thin films of LSGM.
We obtained remarkable power densities for anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3-δ (LSGM) electrolyte films, fabricated following an original procedure that allowed avoiding undesired reactions between LSGM and electrode materials, especially Ni at the anode. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was used for the fabrication of 30 µm-thick electrolyte films. Anode supports were made of La0.4Ce0.6O2-x (LDC). The LSGM powder was deposited by EPD on an LDC green tape-cast membrane added with carbon powder, both as pore former and substrate conductivity booster. A subsequent co-firing step at 1490 °C produced dense electrolyte films on porous LDC skeletons. Then, a La0.8Sr0.2Fe0.8Co0.2O3-δ (LSFC) cathode was applied by slurry-coating and calcined at 1100 °C. Finally, the porous LDC layer was impregnated with molten Ni nitrate to obtain, after calcination at 900 °C, a composite NiO–LDC anode. Maximum power densities of 780, 450, 275, 175, and 100 mW/cm² at 700, 650, 600, 550, and 500 °C, respectively, were obtained using H2 as fuel and air as oxidant, demonstrating the success of the processing strategy.
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