Fabrication and characterization of Ni-supported solid oxide fuel cell

Metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are promising due to their good mechanical and thermal properties. Stainless steels are often used as a supporting metal. In this study, the possible use of Ni as a supporting metal was tested. Ni is also a good model of supporting metal due to its lack of Cr which poisons Ni anode.YSZ electrolyte and Ni-YSZ anode were coated on a porous Ni support to fabricate Ni-supported SOFC. A porous Ni support in thick-film form (t ~ 150 µm) was prepared by the mold casting of Ni powders. An anode and an electrolyte layer were sequentially coated on the Ni support using screen printing and tape casting methods, respectively. The Ni-supported cell (t ~ 200 µm) was sintered at 1400 °C in a reducing atmosphere and the performance was evaluated at 800 °C with a La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF) cathode. The unit cell showed an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.96 V and a peak power density of 470 mW/cm2 at 800 °C.