Effect of yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte thickness on the electrochemical performance of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

Lowering operating temperature and optimizing electrolyte thickness, while maintaining the same high efficiencies are the main considerations in fabricating solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In this study, the effect of yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte thickness on the electrical performance was investigated. The yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte was coated on the nickel–samarium-doped composite anode/samarium-doped ceria electrolyte substrate with varying bilayer electrolyte thicknesses (1.5, 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 μm) via dip-coating technique. Electrochemical performance analysis revealed that the bilayer electrolyte with 5.5 μm thickness exhibited high open circuit voltage, current and power densities of 1.068 V, 259.5 mA/cm2 and 86 mW/cm2, respectively at 600 °C. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis also exhibited low total polarization resistance (4.64 Ωcm2) at 600 °C for the single SOFC with 5.5 μm thick yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte. These findings confirm that the yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte contributes to oxygen reduction reaction and successfully blocks electronic conduction in Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 electrolyte materials. This study has successfully produced an Y0.25Bi0.75O1.5/Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 bilayer system with an extremely low total polarization resistance for low-temperature SOFCs.