High performance solid oxide fuel cells based on tri-layer yttria-stabilized zirconia by low temperature sintering process

Performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) depends critically on the composition and microstructure of the electrodes. It is fabricated a dense yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte layer sandwiched between two porous YSZ layers at low temperature. The advantages of this structure include excellent structural stability and unique flexibility for evaluation of new electrode materials for SOFC applications, which would be difficult or impossible to be evaluated using conventional cell fabrication techniques because of incompatibility with YSZ under processing conditions. The porosity of porous YSZ increases from 65.8% to 68.6% as the firing temperature decreased from 1350 to 1200 °C. The open cell voltages of the cells based on the tri-layers of YSZ, co-fired using a two-step sintering at 1200 °C, are above 1.0 V at 700-800 °C, and the peak power densities of cells infiltrated LSCF and Pd-SDC electrodes are about 525, 733, and 935 mW cm⁻² at 700, 750, and 800 °C, respectively.