Fabrication and characterization of Ni-YSZ anode functional coatings by electron beam physical vapor deposition

Two kinds of NiO-YSZ (yttria-stabilized zirconia) coatings, respectively with uniform and gradient distributions of NiO content along the coating thickness direction, were prepared by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) via adjusting electron beam currents. Then uniform and graded Ni-YSZ coatings were obtained from corresponding NiO-YSZ coatings after a reduction treatment. For uniform Ni-YSZ coating, the composition and porosity distributions along the coating thickness were uniform. The specific surface area and total pore volume for this coating could reach up to 4.330  m2 g − 1 and 0.0346  cm3 g − 1 respectively. The area specific resistance (ASR) of this coating kept increasing with the rise in temperature and an ASR of 2.1 × 10 − 5Ω cm2 was obtained at 600 °C. For graded Ni-YSZ coating, a gradient in Ni content and porosity was realized along the coating thickness. A high porosity of up to 33% was achieved in the part of the coating close to the substrate, while a low porosity of 10% was obtained in the part close to coating surface.