Effects of Ru Co-Sputtering on the Properties of Porous Ni Thin Films

Abstract

NiO films and Ru co-sputtered NiO films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering for micro-solid oxide fuel cell anode applications. The deposited films were reduced to form porous films. The reduction kinetics of the Ru doped NiO film was more sluggish than that of the NiO film, and the resulting microstructure of the former exhibited finer pore networks. The possibility of using the films for the anodes of single chamber micro-SOFCs was investigated using an air/fuel mixed environment. It was found that the abrupt increase in the resistance is suppressed in the Ru co-sputtered film, as compared to undoped film.