Effect of 20%O₂ reactive gas on RF-sputtered Ni-SDC cermet anodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

We prepared nickel-samaria-doped-ceria cermet anodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells, by using two different background sputtering gases. One is a reactive mixture gas of pure argon and oxygen (Ar/O2:80/20), and other is non-reactive pure argon gas. For all cells, a 150 μm fully stabilized scandia-stabilized-zirconia pellet was used as an electrolyte support. Lanthanum strontium manganite ink was screen-printed on the electrolyte support to act as a cathode. Initial results showed that the anodes produced by non-reactive background sputtering gas, outperformed the anodes produced by reactive mixture background gas in all categories of performance and also showed lesser agglomeration with time.