Inkjet Printed Y-Substituted Barium Zirconate Layers as Electrolyte Membrane for Thin Film Electrochemical Devices.

Theodor Schneller,David Griesche

doi:10.3390/membranes9100131

Abstract

In this work, the inkjet printing of proton conducting Y-substituted barium zirconate (BZY) thin films was studied. Two different kinds of precursor inks, namely a rather molecular BZY precursor solution and a BZY nanoparticle dispersion, have been synthesized and initially investigated with regard to their decomposition and phase formation behavior by thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Their wetting behavior and rheological properties have been determined in order to evaluate their fundamental suitability for the inkjet process. Crystalline films have been already obtained at 700 °C, which is significantly lower compared to conventional solid-state synthesis. Increasing the temperature up to 1000 °C results in higher crystal quality. Permittivity measurements gave values of around 36 that are in good agreement with the literature while also proving the integrity of the materials. A modification of the as-synthesized BZY stock solution and nanoparticle dispersion by dilution with propionic acid improved the jetability of both inks and yielded homogeneous BZY coatings from both inks. In order to study the electrochemical properties of BZY films derived from the two printed inks, BZY coatings on sapphire substrates were prepared and characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Highlights

Conventional solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on oxide ion conducting electrolytes such as yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are typically operated in the range 800–1000 ◦ C and are denoted as high-temperature (HT) solid oxide fuel cells [1,2]
All the relevant steps beginning with the chemistry of the precursor inks and their fundamental phase formation behavior followed by the study of the parameters required for the print process itself up to the morphological and electrochemical characterization will be described
Two chemically different kinds of BZY10 precursor systems denoted as con-BZY10 and μE-BZY10 have been prepared for the printing experiments in this work

Summary

Introduction

Conventional solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based on oxide ion conducting electrolytes such as yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are typically operated in the range 800–1000 ◦ C and are denoted as high-temperature (HT) solid oxide fuel cells [1,2]. Typical approaches to achieve this aim are based on a reduction of the electrolyte layer thickness and/or an optimization of the electrolyte material properties itself This applies and during the implementation of SOFCs in miniaturized devices, i.e., μ-SOFCs [8], thin film

Methods

Results

Conclusion