Low Temperature SOFC Cathode Layer Deposited by Reactive Spray Deposition Technology (RSDT)

Abstract

Present work presents the results obtained by using a direct deposition technique to make SOFC cathode materials that either significantly reduce or eliminate the need for sintering. A reference composite cathode made of 75 wt.% Sm 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co O3 (SSC) and 25 wt.% Sm 0.2 Ce 0.8 O 1.9 (SDC) has been applied on a cermet supported thin SDC electrolyte cell. Cell peak power performance was measured to be 0.49 W cm−2 operating at 600 °C after firing at 1050 °C. The measured total electrode polarization Rp(a + c) was 0.102 Ω cm2 at 600 °C. In this study a thin (~5 µm) SSC cathode has been applied by Reactive Spray Deposition Technology (RSDT) and the total polarization was reduced to 0.079 Ω cm2, indicating over 20% reduction of losses compared to the traditional cathode processing rout