Open AccessRapid, cool sintering of wet processed yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramic electrolyte thin films
Author(s) -
Jun Sik Park,
Dug Joong Kim,
Wan Ho Chung,
Young-Chul Lim,
Kwang Ho Kim,
Young Beom Kim
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-12438-9
Subject(s) - yttria stabilized zirconia , sintering , cubic zirconia , electrolyte , materials science , ceramic , thin film , composite material , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , electrode , engineering
Here we report a photonic annealing process for yttria-stabilized zirconia films, which are one of the most well-known solid-state electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Precursor films were coated using a wet-chemical method with a simple metal-organic precursor solution and directly annealed at standard pressure and temperature by two cycles of xenon flash lamp irradiation. The residual organics were almost completely decomposed in the first pre-annealing step, and the fluorite crystalline phases and good ionic conductivity were developed during the second annealing step. These films showed properties comparable to those of thermally annealed films. This process is much faster than conventional annealing processes (e.g. halogen furnaces); a few seconds compared to tens of hours, respectively. The significance of this work includes the treatment of solid-state electrolyte oxides for SOFCs and the demonstration of the feasibility of other oxide components for solid-state energy devices.