Dip-coating of 8YSZ nanopowder for SOFC applications

A dip-coating method was used to obtain 8YSZ thin films formed from nanoparticles on anode support for SOFC applications. 8YSZ nanopowder was obtained via a modified sol–gel method using sucrose and pectin as organic precursors. The nanoparticles were suspended in ethanol using phosphate ester (PE) and polyvinyl butyral (PVB) as dispersant and binder, respectively. The microstructure of the sintered films were analyzed with SEM. The suspension preparation conditions were tuned in order to achieve high initial green density of the 8YSZ films subsequently determining the final sintered microstructure. In addition, the effect of the linear shrinkage of the anode substrate on the 8YSZ film microstructure was studied.