Fabrication of structured anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell by powder injection molding

Powder Injection Molding (PIM) gives the possibility to produce, at an industrial rate, ceramic parts with fine details. It is thus a possible approach to reduce the fabrication costs of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). This work presents fabrication and electrochemical characterization results of injection-molded structured anode-supported SOFCs.Planar anode-supported SOFCs with fine details have been produced by injection molding of a mixture of nickel oxide (NiO) and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). The channeling structure and support porosity ensure gas transport on the fuel side. Initial anode support characterizations like sintering shrinkage, porosity and electrical conductivity have been done on simple Ni–YSZ test bars. Thin YSZ electrolyte has been deposited by spin-coating on the PIM green body before half-cell co-sintering.Electrochemical testing was carried out with a lanthanum–strontium manganite (LSM)–YSZ cathode. The performance is comparable to tape-cast anode-supported cells, with 0.45 W cm−2 obtained at 0.6 V and 810 °C. Medium-term galvanostatic testing shows a degradation rate of about 1.1% kh−1. Post-test analysis with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) attribute this mainly to cathode degradation due to Cr and S poisoning. These results are therefore promising for using a PIM fabrication process in the SOFC field.

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► First electrochemical test of planar structured anode-supported SOFC produced by PIM.
► Multifunctional parts for SOFC stack: (1) gas diffusion layer + (2) structured anode-support.
► High production rate and high tolerance PIM process for low cost SOFC complex parts.
► Good performance and low degradation confirm the proof-of-concept before upscaling.