W. Guo et al. / Electrochimica Acta 53 (2008) 4420–4427
4421
that La0.4Ce0.6O1.8 (LDC) buffer layer must be introduced to
minimize reactions and inter-diffusion between LSGM and the
Ni-based anode or the Co-contained cathode [5]. Despite the
promising results obtained from the anode-supported single
SOFC with thin LSGM film, there is a lack of demonstration of
long-term stability under high power output, even though there
are some reports about stability test of SOFCs with thick LSGM
electrolyte [5,7].
In the present work, a centrifugal casting technique
was applied to fabricate thin LDC/LSGM/LDC tri-layer on
NiO–SDC (Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9) anode substrates. SOFCs with
dense thin LDC/LSGM/LDC layers were prepared by co-firing,
with no evidence of deleterious reactions. SOFC testing exhib-
ited relative high power densities. A cell maintaining at a
−
2
◦
constant current of 1 A cm was tested for 95 h at 800 C. The
measured voltage at this current dropped from 0.699 V at the
beginning to about 0.607 V after the test and the maximum
−2
−2
.
power density decreased from 1.08 W cm to 0.81 W cm
The experimental results were carefully discussed.
2
. Experimental
2
.1. Powder preparation
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the single-cell testing set.
La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3−δ (LSGM) powder was synthesized
by solid-statereaction. Stoichiometric amountof La2O3, SrCO3,
be easily and accurately controlled over a large range. LDC
and LSGM slurry suspensions were prepared by mixing 0.5 g of
each powder and an organic vehicle of ethylcellulose (6 wt%)
and terpineol (94 wt%) in a weight ratio of 1:1 with 100 mL
ethanol, and sonicating for 1 h. The NiO–SDC substrates were
placed in vessels with flat bottom, and a proper amount of slurry
was added into each vessel along with some more ethanol. The
vessels were then placed in a centrifuge with a radius of about
Ga2O3, and MgO were mixed in ethanol and ball-milled for
◦
2
0 h. The mixture was dried and pre-fired at 1000 C for 4 h,
◦
then pressed into pellets, finally sintered at 1250 C for 21 h.
La0.4Ce0.6O1.8 (LDC) powder was also synthesized by solid-
state reaction of La2O3 and CeO2 after firing at 1250 C for
◦
2
1 h. The Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 (SDC) powder was prepared using
◦
a citric-nitrate process and calcined at 800 C for 2 h [12].
Nickel oxide (NiO) powder was obtained by the precipitation
method, using Ni(NO3)2·6H2O as the raw material and ammo-
20 cm, and the centrifuge was operated for 30 min at 4000 rpm.
◦
In the centrifugal field, the ceramic particles in the slurry were
forced down to the surface of the substrate to form a coating.
After the centrifuge process, the supernatant was decanted and
the film prepared was dried in ambient air for half an hour. Then,
the next layer was deposited. In this way, layers of LDC, LSGM,
and LDC were centrifugal deposited sequentially on the anode
supports. The thickness of the LSGM and LDC layers was con-
trolled by the amount of slurry. The deposited pellets were dried
nia as the precipitant. The precipitate was calcined at 400 C for
2
h. La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3 (LSCF) powder was produced by a
combined citrate–EDTA complexing method and the primary
◦
powder was calcined at 950 C for 5 h [13].
All the powders were characterized with an X-ray diffrac-
tometer (XD-3A, Shimadzu, Japan) with Cu K␣ radiation. The
◦
◦
selected 2θ range was from 20 to 80 scanning at a step of
0
◦
.02 . The XRD patterns were analyzed and determined with
◦
in open air, and then sintered at 1400 C for 4 h. The porous
MDI Jade 5.1 and PCPDFWIN 1.10 software.
cathode was prepared using a mixture of LSCF and LSGM in
a weight ratio of 1:1 with an ethylcellulose–terpineol vehicle.
The mixture was applied on the electrolyte, followed by a pure
2
.2. Cell fabrication
◦
LSCF layer, and fired at 1100 C for 1 h in air.
The as-prepared NiO and SDC powders were mixed in a
weight ratio of 6:4. After the mixture with 15 wt% starch as
pore former was mixed and ground in an agate mortar for 2 h,
the anode powders were pressed into pellets of 13 mm in diam-
eter and 0.6 mm in thickness under a pressure of 300 MPa.
2.3. Cell testing
A single cell was assembled by attaching a cell pellet to one
end of an alumina tube using silver paste (DAD-87, Shang-
hai Research Institute of Synthetic Resin, Shanghai, China) as
sealant and joint material (Fig. 1). The cells were tested with an
electrochemical instrument (Autolab PGSTAT30, Eco Chemie,
Holland). Hydrogen passing over the anode was controlled at
◦
The green pellets were pre-sintered at 1000 C for 4 h to
obtain the NiO–SDC anode substrates. Tri-layer electrolytes
LDC/LSGM/LDC were sequentially deposited on NiO–SDC
anode substrates by centrifugal casting technique [14]. The tech-
nique is simple, fast, and economical. The coating thickness can