Fabrication and Characterization of Anode‐Supported Tubular Solid‐Oxide Fuel Cells by Slip Casting and Dip Coating Techniques

Abstract

High‐performance anode‐supported tubular solid‐oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been successfully developed and fabricated using slip casting, dip coating, and impregnation techniques. The effect of a dispersant and solid loading on the viscosity of the NiO/Y 2 O 3 –ZrO 2 (NiO/YSZ) slurry is investigated in detail. The viscosity of the slurry was found to be minimum when the dispersant content was 0.6 wt% of NiO/YSZ. The effect of sintering temperature on the shrinkage and porosity of the anode tubes, densification of the electrolyte, and performance of the cell at different solid loadings is also investigated. A Ni/YSZ anode‐supported tubular cell fabricated from the NiO/YSZ slurry with 65 wt% solid loading and sintered at 1380°C produced a peak power output of ∼491 and ∼376 mW/cm 2 at 800°C in wet H 2 and CH 4 , respectively. With the impregnation of Ce 0.8 Gd 0.2 O 2 (GDC) nanoparticles, the peak power density increased to ∼1104 and ∼770 mW/cm 2 at 800°C in wet H 2 and CH 4 , respectively. GDC impregnation considerably enhances the electrochemical performance of the cell and significantly reduces the ohmic and polarization resistances of thin solid electrolyte cells.