Preparation of YSZ film by gravity-electrophoretic deposition and its application in SOFC

A gravity-electrophoretic deposition method (GD-EPD) was developed for depositing yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) films on porous NiO-YSZ anode substrates. GD-EPD was the method that deposited an additional layer of YSZ by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique on the YSZ film prepared by gravity deposition method (GD). The microstructure of the YSZ film, the performance and impedance spectra of fuel cell prepared by GD-EPD were investigated and compared with that of the YSZ film prepared by only GD method. The SEM photos showed that the size and quantity of the pin-holes in YSZ film has been reduced down by the subsequent EPD process after GD. The output properties of the fuel cell with YSZ film deposited by GD-EPD were obviously improved. The most apparent improvement was the fuel cell's power density of GD-EPD sample that increased seven times from 20 to 144 mW cm−2 at intermediate-temperature of 700 °C than that of GD ones.