A high-performance planar anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell with hierarchical porous structure through slurry-based three-dimensional printing

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is considered to its the ability to make complex structures with modified properties in functional materials. In this work, a planar multi-layer anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is fabricated through slurry-based 3D printing. The composition of 65 wt% NiO-YSZ (60:40 wt%)–35 wt% graphite is selected for fabrication of anode support by pressing. The low viscosity slurry with good homogeneity is prepared for fabricating of anode functional layer (AFL) consisting of NiO-YSZ (50–50), electrolyte (YSZ), and cathode (LSM) layers. After sintering of layers, uniform hierarchical porous microstructures are obtained with interconnected large pores up several microns and smaller pores of 100 nm in the AFL and cathode layer. In meanwhile, the electrolyte layer is achieved a relatively dense microstructure. The maximum power density at the output voltage of 0.5 V is achieved at 0.84 W/cm2 at an open-circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.06 V at 800 °C with H2 gas as fuel. The results are shown that the hierarchically macro-mesopores can create higher power density. Also, modification of geometry such as thickness and structure of layers can be improved electrochemical performance. Furthermore, the OCV exhibited a few fuel leakage due to the relatively dense structure and crack-free electrolyte layer.