Effects of anode fabrication parameters on the performance and redox behavior of solid oxide fuel cells

Anode supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) having various anode support porosities and electrolyte thicknesses are developed and their effects on the cell performance and redox behavior of the cell are investigated experimentally. An yttria stabilized zirconia based anode supported membrane electrode group (MEG) is developed with the tape casting, co-sintering and screen printing methodologies. For comparison, various anode supported cells with different electrolyte thickness and anode support porosities are also fabricated. An experimental setup is devised for the performance measurement of the cells before and after redox cycling. The mechanical performance of the cell before and after redox cycling is also measured via three point bending tests. Experimental results reveal that the porosity of the anode support and the thickness of the electrolyte should be carefully decided by considering not only the cell performances but also the redox stability. In addition, after single redox cycle the decrease in the mechanical properties of the cell is found to be around 50% while the same cell shows only around 10% electrochemical performance loss.