Scale-up of thin-film deposition-based solid oxide fuel cell by sputtering, a commercially viable thin-film technology

The feasibility of fabricating large-area thin-film solid oxide fuel cells (TF-SOFC) using a commercially viable vapor deposition technology-i.e., sputtering in the present study-is investigated. By using a 2-inch sputtering system, a multi-scale-architecture platform consisting of a nanostructured NiO-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) anode and an approximately 750 nm-thick YSZ/gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) bilayer is successfully fabricated over a 5 × 5 cm NiO-YSZ anode support. An open cell voltage (OCV) of 1.1 V and a peak power density exceeding 1.2 W cm~² at 600°C are obtained. The total power output at 0.7 V from the 5-cm-by-5 cm TF-SOFC reaches 15.52 W at 600°C and 9.76 W at 550°C. The total maximum power outputs are 19.52 and 14.08 W at 600 and 550°C, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the highest total power output from a vapor deposition-based SOFC. The present study demonstrates the possibility of transferring this multi-scale-architecture TF-SOFC technology to the industrial sector using commercial thin-film technologies.