Preparation of thin Ysz electrolyte by electrostatic spray deposition for solid oxide fuel cells

Solid oxide fuel cell is one of the most competitive candidates for energy generation. However, it requires high operating temperature (> 800°C) to obtain proper ionic conductivity of the YSZ electrolyte. The operating temperature can be lowered by reducing the thickness of the electrolyte. Thin YSZ electrolyte was prepared using ESD technique. Electrostatic spray showed a few modes such as dripping, con-jet and multi-jet mode, depending on the applied voltage. Dense YSZ layer (10-20 μm) was formed on NiO-YSZ anode after annealing at 1500°C for 3 hr. A single cell was prepared by screen printing LSCF layer on the electrospray-deposited YSZ/NiO-YSZ sample. The cell test was performed at 500°-800°C. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2008 AIChE Spring National Meeting (New Orleans, LA 4/6-10/2008).