Performance evaluation of thin membranes solid oxide fuel cell prepared by pressure-assisted slurry-casting

A gas-tight yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte film was fabricated on porous NiO-YSZ anode substrates by a modified slurry coating, i.e., a pressure-assisted slurry-casting technique. The SEM results showed that the YSZ film was fully dense with a thickness of 26 μ m. Combined with a screen-printed La_0.7 Sr_0.3 MnO₃ (LSM)-YSZ cathode, a single fuel cell was tested in a temperature range from 650 to 850 ^{{ring operator}} C with humidified hydrogen as fuel and ambient air as oxidant. The open circuit voltage (OCV) of over 1.0 V was observed, which suggested that the fuel leakage across YSZ film was negligible. The maximum power density at 650, 700, 750, 800 and 850 ^{{ring operator}} C were 208, 513, 837, 1116 and 1234 mW / cm², respectively. The results of impedance measurements revealed that the activation energy for the total ohmic resistance of the cell and for the total electrode polarization was 66.1 and 101.7 kJ/mol, respectively. The cell performance was essentially governed by the electrode polarization. A short-term stability testing of the cell for 5 h showed that the fuel cell was quite stable in the testing procedure.