Thin Film Electrolyte Micro-SOFC: Fabrication and Performance Improvement through Thin Film Electrolyte and Nano-Structure Electrodes

The performance improvement, especially at a lower operating temperature regime, by employing thin film and nano-structure electrodes for miniaturized SOFCs is investigated. The anode-supported unit cells with thin ({less than or equal to} 1 um) YSZ electrolytes were fabricated by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Performance of the cell was characterized at temperatures lower than 600 oC. We obtained OCV > 1V with less than 1 um-thick thin electrolytes, which implied the thin electrolyte was fairly dense and gas tight. The thin film electrolyte cells exhibited much improved cell performance than that of the anode-supported SOFC cell with a thick (~10 um) YSZ electrolyte at the low operating temperature regime (350-550 oC). The effects of the nano-structured electrodes and thin film electrolytes on the cell performance are investigated.