Optimisation of screen-printed La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ cathode film for intermediate temperature proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cell application

• Published in: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
• Main Author: Abdul Samat A.; Rao Somalu M.; Muchtar A.; Akidah Baharuddin N.; Osman N.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Physics Publishing 2019
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85068681086&doi=10.1088%2f1755-1315%2f268%2f1%2f012137&partnerID=40&md5=b10d2b0dbf85f04f3cfec5ca85295042

The effect of thin film properties on the electrochemical performance of La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ (LSC) cathode was investigated. A single phase of sol-gel derived LSC cathode powder is produced using ethylene glycol (EG) and activated carbon (AC), pressed into a pellet and turned into an LSC cathode slurry. The slurry is screen printed with different printing numbers (2, 4, 6 and 8 times) on the BaCe0.54Zr0.36Y0.1O3 (BCZY) electrolyte substrate to fabricate LSC|BCZY|LSC symmetrical cell. The EG-based LSC cathode recorded the lowest area specific resistance (ASR) value (0.11 Ω cm2) in the symmetrical cell fabricated with printing number of 2 times (film thickness = 3.90 ± 0.18 μm, film porosity = 23.09 ± 0.42 %). The AC-based LSC cathode requires a high printing number of 6 times (film thickness = 6.76 ± 0.50 μm, film porosity = 21.98 ± 0.52 %) to obtain the lowest ASR value (0.15 Ω cm2) because the electrical conductivity of the AC-based LSC cathode is lower than that of the EG-based LSC cathode. Overall, this work shows that the variations in the ASR values of the same LSC materials prepared with different chemical additives are affected by the properties of the printed thin film. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.