Compositionally continuously graded cathode layers of (Ba0.5Sr0.5)(Fe0.91Al0.09)O3−δ-Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 by wet powder spraying technique for solid oxide fuel cells

Compositionally continuously graded cathode layers (CGCLs) of (Ba0.5Sr0.5)(Fe0.91Al0.09)O3−δ-Gd0.1Ce0.9O2 (BSFA-GDC) have been constructed by a handy and effective technique called wet powder spraying (WPS). CGCLs exhibit similar thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) value between adjacent thin layers. The continuously graded structure and the well-distributed components of BSFA-GDC cathode are confirmed by morphological characterization with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and by compositional analysis with energy dispersion X-ray spectrometer (EDS), respectively. The polarization resistance (Rp) of CGCLs with three different thicknesses is investigated by electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS). The EIS results show that CGCLs with a moderate thickness of 20 μm achieve the lowest Rp of 0.301 Ω cm2 at 800 °C. In addition, anode-supported single cells with the configuration of NiO-YSZ/YSZ/GDC/BSFA-GDC have been fabricated and tested. The cell with the CGCLs thickness of 20 μm reaches the highest output power density of 848 mW cm−2 at 800 °C.