Premium
High‐Performance Micro‐Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Fabricated on Nanoporous Anodic Aluminum Oxide Templates
Author(s) -
Kwon ChangWoo,
Son JiWon,
Lee JongHo,
Kim HyunMi,
Lee HaeWeon,
Kim KiBum
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201002137
Subject(s) - materials science , nanoporous , yttria stabilized zirconia , electrolyte , anode , layer (electronics) , chemical engineering , transmission electron microscopy , oxide , pulsed laser deposition , cathode , atomic layer deposition , substrate (aquarium) , nanotechnology , cubic zirconia , thin film , electrode , composite material , metallurgy , chemistry , engineering , oceanography , geology , ceramic
Micro‐solid oxide fuel cells ( μ ‐SOFCs) are fabricated on nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates with a cell structure composed of a 600‐nm‐thick AAO free‐standing membrane embedded on a Si substrate, sputter‐deposited Pt electrodes (cathode and anode) and an yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Initially, the open circuit voltages (OCVs) of the AAO‐supported μ ‐SOFCs are in the range of 0.05 V to 0.78 V, which is much lower than the ideal value, depending on the average pore size of the AAO template and the thickness of the YSZ electrolyte. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis reveals the formation of pinholes in the electrolyte layer that originate from the porous nature of the underlying AAO membrane. In order to clog these pinholes, a 20‐nm thick Al 2 O 3 layer is deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on top of the 300‐nm thick YSZ layer and another 600‐nm thick YSZ layer is deposited after removing the top intermittent Al 2 O 3 layer. Fuel cell devices fabricated in this way manifest OCVs of 1.02 V, and a maximum power density of 350 mW cm −2 at 500 °C.