Doped ceria anode interlayer for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells with nanothin electrolyte

Sanghoon Ji, Yoon Ho Lee, Taehyun Park, Gu Young Cho, Seungtak Noh, Yeageun Lee, Minwoo Kim, Seungbum Ha, Jihwan An, Suk Won Cha

Abstract

Gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) deposited by radio frequencymagnetron sputtering is utilized as the anode interlayer for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFCs) with a nanothin yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte and Ni/Pt electrodes.When the thickness ratio of YSZ electrolyte versus 100nmGDC anode interlayer is at or below 1.5, the electrochemical performance of the LT-SOFC is severely poor due to the microstructural instability of the GDC anode interlayer under high-temperature reducing atmospheric conditions. At 500 °C, the peak power density of the LT-SOFC with aNi anode and a 20nmGDC anode interlayer is ~30% higher than that without the GDC anode interlayer due to faster reaction kinetics on the anode side.