Inkjet-Printed LSM-YSZ Thin Films for Enhanced Oxygen Electrodes in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
Michalis Charalampakis, Leila Zouridi, Ioannis Garagounis, Anastasios Vourros, George E. Marnellos, Vassiliοs Binas
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide In the present work, symmetrical oxide ion conducting solid oxide single cells with inkjet-printed composite LSM-YSZ electrodes, onto commercially available YSZ dense substrates using GDC as buffer interlayer, were fabricated and characterized. Stable inkjet-printable LSM-YSZ nanoparticle inks were developed based on water solvent, after processing with high intensity ball milling. The deposition of LSM-YSZ electrodes was performed by inkjet printing, as well as a conventional additive manufacturing technique, screen printing, in order to compare the electrochemical performance of the produced cells for the reversible charge transfer reaction (O 2 + 4 e – ↔ 2 O 2– ). The physicochemical properties of the LSM-YSZ nanoparticle ink was investigated to determine ink printability. The electrochemical performance of fabricated inkjet-printed and screen printed symmetrical cells (LSM-YSZ | GDC | YSZ | GDC | LSM-YSZ) exposed under a synthetic air atmosphere was evaluated in a single chamber cell reactor, employing the AC impedance spectroscopy and linear scan voltammetry techniques, at the temperature range of 700–850 °C. The inkjet-printed electrodes exhibited highly homogeneous and porous morphologies with the corresponding cell achieving current densities almost five times higher, up to 1 A/cm 2 at 2 V cell potential and 850 °C, than those of the equivalent screen-printed one. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first successful implementation of water-based inks of LSM-YSZ electrodes in the fabrication of inkjet-printed solid oxide cells.