Ridge‐Valley Nanostructured Samaria‐Doped Ceria Interlayer for Thermally Stable Cathode Interface in Low‐Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Abstract

Agglomeration of the metal electrode decreases the performance of low‐temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT‐SOFC) during operation at elevated temperatures. Here, we report a Pt electrode/ridge‐valley nanostructured samaria‐doped ceria (SDC) layer interface with extended lifetime. LT‐SOFCs with RF‐sputtered SDC interlayers with thicknesses in the range 65–260 nm show a >20 times lower degradation of performance as compared to cells without interlayer when operated at 450 °C (1.8% h −1 vs. 45% h −1 ). Micromorphological analysis reveals that the coarsening of the Pt electrode is significantly suppressed by the presence of the nanostructured SDC interlayer, possibly due to a stronger bonding between this layer and the Pt grains.