Inkjet 3D Printing of Functional Layers of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) and Electrolyzers (SOEs)

Abstract

Hydrogen production using renewable energy sources could enable the technological objectives to be met of decarbonising electrical power generation, energy storage to mitigate renewable energy intermittency and balancing electrical power supply and demand. The required reactors and processes need to be efficient, economic, durable, and of scalable design and fabrication. Additive manufacturing, e.g. by inkjet printing of ceramic particles offers novel means of fabricating solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysers with reproducible geometries, predictable densities of triple phase boundaries, and upscaling of electrode | electrolyte interfacial areas using imaginative 3D structures, thereby decreasing specific costs.We shall present results of using 3D inkjet printing, currently with ca. 10 mm lateral resolution, followed by sintering, for fabrication of SOFCs and SOEs. Having characterised their particle size distributions, zeta potentials and rheologies, colloidal dispersions of < ca. 200 nm yttria-stabilised zirconia (8-YSZ), NiO and lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) particles were formulated. Having optimised inkjet printing parameters, these dispersions were used for printing 3D structures using a Ceradrop X-Serie piezoelectric DOD printer with a DIMATIX Sapphire QS-256/30 AAA printhead with 52 µm nozzle diameters. Gas-tight planar YSZ electrolyte layers were printed and sintered with ca. 10 mm thicknesses, onto porous Ni(O)-YSZ substrates. Porous LSM electrode layers also were printed on pressed YSZ substrates; cracking of printed layers due to capillary forces were mitigated by avoiding attractive depletion potentials and judicious control of sintering conditions. Detailed optimization of printing parameters, droplet size and substrate temperatures will be presented for electrolyte and electrode layers.