Microstructural and mechanical properties of Ni-YSZ fabricated using SPS processing have been investigated at various sintering temperatures. Our study shows samples to be applied as a SOFC anode have the proper porosity of 40% and high hardness when processed at 1100ºC. These results are comparable to the values obtained at 100- 200ºC higher sintering temperature reported by others. This result is important because when the fabrication processes are performed above 1100ºC, the mechanical property starts to decrease drastically. This is caused by the fast grain coarsening at the higher temperature, which initiates a mismatch between thermal expansion coefficients of Ni and YSZ and induces cracks as well.

In the segmented-in-series solid-oxide fuel cells (SIS-SOFCs), fabrication techniques which use decalcomania paper have many advantages, i.e., an increased active area of the electrode; better interfacial adhesion property between the anode, electrolyte and cathode; and improved layer thickness uniformity. In this work, a cell-stack was fabricated on porous ceramic flattened tube supports using decalcomania paper, which consists of an anode, electrolyte, and a cathode. The anode layer was 40μm thick, and was porous. The electrolyte layers exhibited a uniform thickness of about 20μm with a dense structure. Interfacial adhesion was improved due to the dense structure. The cathode layers was 30μm thick with porous structure, good adhesion to the electrolyte. The ohmic resistance levels at 800, 750 and 700˚C were measured, showing values of 1.49, 1.58 and 1.65Ω·cm2, respectively. The polarization resistances at 800, 750 and 700˚C were measured to be 1.63, 2.61 and 4.17cm2, respectively. These lower resistance values originated from the excellent interfacial adhesion between the anode, electrolyte and cathode. In a two-cell-stack SOFC, open-circuit voltages(OCVs) of 1.915, 1.942 and 1.957 V and maximum power densities(MPD) of 289.9, 276.1 and 220.4mW/cm2 were measured at 800, 750 and 700˚C, respectively. The proposed fabrication technique using decalcomania paper was shown to be feasible for the easy fabrication of segmented-in-series flattened tube SOFCs.

La1-xSrxMnO3(LSM,0≤x≤0.5) powders as the air electrode for solid oxide fuel cell were synthesized by a glycine-nitrate combustion process. The powders were then examined by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The as-formed powders were composed of very fine ash particles linked together in chains. X-ray maps of the LSM powders milled for 1.5 h showed that the metallic elements are homogeneously distributed inside each grain and in the different grains. The powder XRD patterns of the LSM with x< 0.3 showed a rhombohedral phase; the phase changes to the cubic phase at higher compositions(x≥0.3) calcined in air at 1200˚C for 4 h. Also, the SEM micrographs showed that the average grain size decreases as Sr content increases. Composite air electrodes made of 50/50 vol% of the resulting LSM powders and yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ) powders were prepared by colloidal deposition technique. The electrodes were studied by ac impedance spectroscopy in order to improve the performance of a solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC). Reproducible impedance spectra were confirmed using the improved cell, which consisted of LSM-YSZ/YSZ. The composite electrode of LSM and YSZ was found to yield a lower cathodic resistivity than that of the non-composite one. Also, the addition of YSZ to the La1-xSrxMnO3 (0.1≤x≤0.2) electrode led to a pronounced, large decrease in the cathodic resistivity of the LSM-YSZ composite electrodes.

Joining of NiO-YSZ to 316 stainless steel was carried out with B-Ni2 brazing alloy (3 wt% Fe, 4.5 wt% Si, 3.2 wt% B, 7 wt% Cr, Ni-balance, m.p. 971-) to seal the NiO-YSZ anode/316 stainless steel interconnect structure in a SOFC. In the present research, interfacial (chemical) reactions during brazing at the NiO-YSZ/316 stainless steel interconnect were enhanced by the two processing methods, a) addition of an electroless nickel plate to NiO-YSZ as a coating or b) deposition of titanium layer onto NiO-YSZ by magnetron plasma sputtering method, with process variables and procedures optimized during the pre-processing. Brazing was performed in a cold-wall vacuum furnace at . Post-brazing interfacial morphologies between NiO-YSZ and 316 stainless steel were examined by SEM and EDS methods. The results indicate that B-Ni2 brazing filler alloy was fused fully during brazing and continuous interfacial layer formation depended on the method of pre-coating NiO-YSZ. The inter-diffusion of elements was promoted by titanium-deposition: the diffusion reaction thickness of the interfacial area was reduced to less than 5 compared to 100 for electroless nickel-deposited NiO-YSZ cermet.

For this paper, we investigated the area specific resistance (ASR) of commercially available ferritic stainless steels with different chemical compositions for use as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) interconnect. After 430h of oxidation, the STS446M alloy demonstrated excellent oxidation resistance and low ASR, of approximately 40 mΩcm2, of the thermally grown oxide scale, compared to those of other stainless steels. The reason for the low ASR is that the contact resistance between the Pt paste and the oxide scale is reduced due to the plate-like shape of the Cr2O3(s). However, the acceptable ASR level is considered to be below 100 mΩcm2 after 40,000 h of use. To further improve the electrical conductivity of the thermally grown oxide on stainless steels, the Co layer was deposited on the stainless steel by means of an electroless deposition method; it was then thermally oxidized to obtain the Co3O4 layer, which is a highly conductive layer. With the increase of the Co coating thickness, the ASR value decreased. For Co deposited STS444 with 2 μmhickness, the measured ASR at 800˚ after 300 h oxidation is around 10 mΩcm2, which is lower than that of the STS446M, which alloy has a lower ASR value than that of the non-coated STS. The reason for this improved high temperature conductivity seems to be that the Mn is efficiently diffused into the coating layer, which diffusion formed the highly conductive (Mn,Co)3O4 spinel phases and the thickness of the Cr2O3(S), which is the rate controlling layer of the electrical conductivity in the SOFC environment and is very thin

연료극 지지체식 원통형 고체산화물 연료전지를 개방하기 위해 연료극 지지체와 전해질이 코팅된 연료극 원통관의 제조 및 그것의 특성에 대해 연구하였다- 연료극 지지체는 20-50vol.%의 탄소함량에 따라 만들어졌으며, 탄소량이 증가함에 따라 연 료극 지지체의 기공율도 점차 증가하였으며, 적절한 기공율을 가지기 위한 최적 탄소량은 30vol.%임을 확인하였다. 연료극 지지체 관은 압출법으로 제작하였으며, 전해질은 슬러리 코팅법으로 원통판의 바깥쪽에 코팅하였고, 1400˚C에서 공소결을 성공적으로 실시하였다. 소결후 물리척특성과 미세구조를 조사하였으며, 연료극 지지체관의 기공율은 35%이었고 연료전지의 요구조건을 만족하였다. 기체투과율 시험을 통하여, 연료극 지지체관 자체는 충분히 다공성을 나타내었으나, 전해질층을 코팅한 경우에는 매우 낮은 기체부과율을 나타냄을 확인하였다. 이것은 코팅된 전해질층이 매우 치밀하다는 것을 의미하며, 본 연구를 통해서 연료극 지지체식 원통형 고체산화물 연료전지가 제조될 수 있음을 확인하였다.