Flash cosintering of a lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite nanofibre/Gd-doped ceria bilayer structure

Abstract

For solid oxide fuel cells, an important structural requirement is that the electrolyte layer needs to be dense and the electrode layer porous, which is difficult to obtain by conventional cosintering. In this work, flash cosintering of a double layer structure consisting of a Gd-doped ceria substrate with a lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite nanofibre coating is investigated. Experimental and finite element modelling results reveal that when the LSCF layer is connected to the electrode, the heat is concentrated in the LSCF layer, which leads to a huge temperature gradient and introduces severe cracking. When the LSCF layer is electrically isolated from the electrode, the heat is concentrated in the GDC layer, and the temperature gradient is dramatically reduced. In this situation, the density of GDC can reach 92.86% while a high porosity of 52.26% is maintained in the LSCF layer, which is higher than that of the conventional cosintered sample.