Development of All-Thin-Film Integrated Proton-Conducting Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Pulsed Laser Deposition(1/3)

This three-year research project plans to develop a new generation of all-thin-film integrated proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (P-SOFCs) by using pulse laser deposition (PLD). In the first year of the project, the material properties of key proton-conducting electrolytes are expected to be explored and optimized. Meanwhile, NiO sintering aids are developed to effectively reduce the sintering temperature required for the BCZY electrolytes. This project also optimizes the matching of electrolytes with cathodes and anodes and to verify the half-cell performance with the thin-film electrolyte. The second year project will be all-thin-film integration of P-SOFC. With the precise control of BaCe1-x-yZrxYyO3-δ (BCZY)-NiO composite anode and Ba1-xSrxCo1-yFeyO3-δ (BSCF) cathode film parameters, BCZY-Ni/BCZY/BSCF all-thin-film P-SOFC will be fabricated on the BCZY-NiO supporting substrate and verified by its cell performance and long-term stability. At the same time, this project also employs the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to study the impedance mechanism of cell components and the focused ion beam (FIB) three-dimensional reconstruction technique to characterize the density and distribution of the three phase boundaries (TPB) at the anodic and cathodic sites. In the third year, this project will apply all-thin-film P-SOFC technical module to highly stable or low-cost heterogeneous supporting substrate and select Y2O3-ZrO2 (YSZ)-Ni substrate as support for the all-thin-film engineering. Meanwhile, the glancing angle deposition technique will be first used to adjust the problem of mismatch between all-thin-film P-SOFC and heterogeneous supporting substrates, and to accurately design and fabricate the cathode and anode microstructures with high density three-phase boundaries, effectively improving the cell performance of P-SOFC. The target for the all-thin-film P-SOFC is to achieve the output power density of 500 mW/cm2 @600 ℃ and 200 mW/cm2 @450 ℃ with a degradation rate less than 10% after 50 hours of operation. This research project also collaborates with Prof. Nai-chang Yeh of California Institute of Technology to explore the possibilities of replacing the BSCF cathode of all-thin-film P-SOFC with highly catalytic N-doped graphene at low operating temperature (~ 450 ℃). The technical modules developed in this research project can be applied individually or integratedly to relevant fuel cell technical platforms. For example, the all-thin-film P-SOFC technology using PLD can also be applied to the sputtering process, and can be further integrated into other low-cost or highly stable heterogeneous substrate (such as stainless steel or nano-pore nickel foam).