Laser-sintered Porous Structures for Samarium-based Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

An attempt has been made to fabricate both fuel and air electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) by utilizing the green-tape laser sintering (GTLS) method. We prepared two types of green pastes with a mixture of samarium strontium cobaltite (SSC) powders for the cathode, NiO/SDC (sub-micrometer-sized samarium-doped ceria) cermet powders for the anode, polystyrene particles as sacrifice material, polymer binder and solvent. The mask printing method was formed an electrode film on the SDC substrate. The printed paste was dried at 433 K for 60 min in an electric furnace, before a pulsed Nd:YAG laser was irradiated in a row on the pattered sample. The GTLS parameters were set at 1.06 μm in wavelength, 80 Hz in pulse frequency, 0.6-3.0 ms in pulse width, 0.1-0.5 mJ in pulse energy, about 0.4 mm in diameter of beam spot, and 3.3-16.7 mm/s in scan speed. A porosity of 22% in the SSC film has been attained although porous microstructures are influenced by pulse energy, pulse width, the defocus amount of laser beam, and substrate temperature during irradiation. The samarium-based electrode structure is less porous than conventional YSZ-based one. Adhesion between the electrolyte and the electrodes was insufficient.