The effect of an ultra-thin zirconia blocking layer on the performance of a 1-mu m-thick gadolinia-doped ceria electrolyte solid-oxide fuel cell

Abstract

Ultra-thin (less than 200 nm) yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) blocking layers are employed at the anode side of a 1-mu m-thick gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) thin-film electrolyte by pulsed laser deposition. Their effects on a GDC thin-film electrolyte solid-oxide fuel cell (TF-SOFC) are presented. Without blocking layers, the open cell voltage (OCV) of the GDC TF-SOFC is about 0.6 V. By inserting the blocking layer, the OCV increases to over 1 V. As a result, the maximum power density of the TF-SOFC increases from 377 mW cm(-2) to over 1 W cm(-2) at 600 degrees C. The present study demonstrates the possibility of obtaining the critical performance at a low temperature regime using thin-film GDC electrolytes. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.