Solid oxide fuel cells incorporating doped lanthanum gallate films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at various Ar/O2 ratios and annealing conditions

Abstract

In this study, we prepared solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) incorporating a dense La0.87Sr0.13Ga0.88Mg0.12O3−δ (LSGM) film deposited by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering on an NiO-Sm0.2Ce0.8O2−δ (NiO-SDC) anode substrate. The influences of the Ar-O2 deposition atmosphere and the subsequent annealing conditions on the characteristics of the LSGM film and on the performance of the resulting SOFCs was investigated. LSGM targets with La0.76Sr0.24Ga0.63Mg0.37O3−δ composition and a deposition atmosphere with Ar/O2 ratios ranging from 10/0 to 5/5 were used throughout the study. Owing to the amorphous nature of the as-deposited LSGM films, the film deposited in an Ar/O2 = 10/0 atm required post-annealing at 950 °C for 4 h for crystallization and removal of the SrLaGa2O7 content, while the films deposited at lower Ar/O2 ratios required higher crystallization temperatures: for instance, the films deposited at Ar/O2 = 6/4 had to be annealed at 1100 °C for 2 h. The anode-supported substrates were then screen-printed with a La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (LSCF)-LSGM cathode layer and fired to form SOFC cells. The single cell incorporating an LSGM film with La0.87Sr0.13Ga0.88Mg0.12O3−δ composition deposited in a pure Ar atmosphere exhibited the lowest cell resistance and thus the highest maximum power density (MPD) at all operating temperatures. The total resistance of the single cell incorporating a 4.3 μm-thick LSGM film decreased from 0.386 to 0.121 Ω cm2 as the temperature increased from 650 to 850 °C, and the open circuit voltages ranged from 0.941 to 0.861 V. The maximum power density of the single cell was 0.422, 0.736, and 1.105 W cm−2 at 650, 750, and 850 °C, respectively.