The impact of ink rheology on the properties of screen-printed solid oxide fuel cell anodes

• The anode film thickness increased with increasing binder content.
• Particle network strength increased as the binder content increases.
• Anode film properties improved consistently with increasing binder content.
• Ink having 3 wt% binder was determined optimum for SOFC anode fabrication.

In this study, the impact of ink rheology on the properties of screen-printed nickel/scandia-stabilized-zirconia anodes was investigated. From the rheological tests, terpineol and texanol inks with 1–3 wt% binder were suitable for screen-printing at the applied screen-printing condition, and hence these inks were used to study their rheological impact on the properties of resultant films. The mechanical hardness of anode films increased with binder content. Moreover, the electronic conductivity and electrode polarization resistance of the reduced films increased and decreased, respectively, with increasing binder content. The improved film properties can be related to the increased particle network strength within the inks, leading to improved film microstructures for application as SOFC anodes. The study also confirmed that the properties of films were more significantly affected by the binder content than solvent type, which had only a minor effect. Overall, from the perspective of ink rheology, screen-printability and performance, an ink with 3 wt% binder gave the best performance at the applied screen-printing condition.