The electrochemical properties of yttria-stabled zirconia electrolyte films by slurry dip-coating method

Yttria-stabled zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte film was prepared on NiO/YSZ anode substrate by a slurry dip-coating technique for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs). The pre-sintering temperature of the anode substrate is crucial to the densification of the electrolyte films, and an optimal temperature of 1000 °C was determined. SEM tests indicated that homogeneous and dense electrolyte film with a thickness of 24 μm could be obtained by twice dip-coating, with good adhesion to the anode substrate. A cell assembled with the prepared YSZ electrolyte films presents an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.14 V and a power density of 0.50 W·cm^-2 operated at 800 °C. The slurry dipcoating technique was also applied to fabricate YSZ films for large size IT-SOFCs, and the maximum power density is 146 mW·cm^-2. This result indicates that the slurry dip-coating technique for preparation of YSZ electrolyte films has potential application in fabricating SOFC stacks.