Abstract
The enhancement of solid oxide cell (SOC) oxygen electrode performance through the generation of nanocomposite electrodes via infiltration using wet-chemistry processes has been widely studied in recent years. An efficient oxygen electrode consists of a porous backbone and an active catalyst, which should provide ionic conductivity, high catalytic activity and electronic conductivity. Inkjet printing is a versatile additive manufacturing technique, which can be used for reliable and homogeneous functionalization of SOC electrodes via infiltration for either small- or large-area devices. In this study, we implemented the utilization of an inkjet printer for the automatic functionalization of different gadolinium-doped ceria scaffolds, via infiltration with ethanol:water-based La1−xSrxCo1−yFeyO3−δ (LSCF) ink. Scaffolds based on commercial and mesoporous Gd-doped ceria (CGO) powders were used to demonstrate the versatility of inkjet printing as an infiltration technique. Using yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) commercial electrolytes, symmetrical LSCF/LSCF–CGO/YSZ/LSCF–CGO/LSCF cells were fabricated via infiltration and characterized by SEM-EDX, XRD and EIS. Microstructural analysis demonstrated the feasibility and reproducibility of the process. Electrochemical characterization lead to an ASR value of ≈1.2 Ω cm2 at 750 °C, in the case of nanosized rare earth-doped ceria scaffolds, with the electrode contributing ≈0.18 Ω cm2. These results demonstrate the feasibility of inkjet printing as an infiltration technique for SOC fabrication.
Highlights
Solid oxide cells (SOCs) are devices which can reversibly produce and utilize hydrogen for chemical to electrical energy conversion with high efficiency [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Composites layers of LSCF–CGO were successfully fabricated by automatic infiltration using DOD-IJP for their use as functional oxygen electrodes in solid oxide cells
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis carried out in this work concluded that optimization of the infiltration of the ceramic backbones reduces polarization resistance by improving the activity of the electrodes
Summary
Solid oxide cells (SOCs) are devices which can reversibly produce and utilize hydrogen for chemical to electrical energy conversion with high efficiency [1,2,3,4,5,6]. State-of-the-art (SoA) materials for SOCs are ionic conductors such as yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and. Gd-doped ceria (CGO) for the electrolyte, Ni-YSZ ceramic metallic composites for the fuel electrode and mixed ionic–electronic conductors (MIECs) such as La1−x Srx Co1−y Fey O3−δ (LSCF) for the oxygen electrode [7]. Composite electrodes involving MIEC perovskites together with pure ionic conductors (e.g., YSZ and CGO) improve the performance of the cell, increasing the active region of the electrode called the triple phase boundary (TPB). Employing an electrolyte material in electrode composites increases chemical and thermo-mechanical compatibility, the required high-temperature treatments present some drawbacks. One of the most important is the formation of insulating secondary phases between SoA strontium-rich perovskites and zirconia-based electrolytes
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