Performance of an anode support solid oxide fuel cell manufactured by microwave sintering

An effective and facile method has been developed to manufacture anode support solid oxide fuel cells in a multimode domestic microwave oven with selective susceptors. Anode support substrate pellets are prepared by an uniaxial pressing method, and then a thin YSZ electrolyte film is coated by a spray coating method. The electrolyte thickness is kept less than 10 μm. The anode supported electrolyte is co-sintered being sandwiched by two spacers and two susceptors in the microwave oven. A cathode is then screen-printed onto the sintered dense electrolyte film and sintered again in the microwave oven with only one spacer and one susceptor. The whole solid oxide fuel cell is sintered at lower temperatures compared to conventional thermal sintering temperature. The performance of the present solid oxide fuel cell is measured in an intermediate temperature range of 650–800 °°C. The maximum power densities of 0.09, 0.12, 0.2 and 0.26 W cm−2 are obtained at operating temperatures of 650, 700, 750 and 800 °°C, respectively.