Issue 38, 2017, Issue in Progress

Integrated design of a Ni thin-film electrode on a porous alumina template for affordable and high-performance low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

Nanostructured Ni thin films, with high porosity, are fabricated by DC sputtering on an anodic aluminum oxide template as an active anode for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells with a target operating temperature of 500 °C. To maximize the electrode performance, we control their effective electrical conductivity and microstructure by varying the sputtering parameters (e.g., the deposition pressure and time) and investigate the gas permeability, sinterability, as well as the ohmic and polarization resistances by a range of analysis techniques, in this case SEM, TEM, mass spectrometry, the four-point probe method and AC impedance spectroscopy. We observe that the thicker the Ni film, the higher the effective electrical conductivity and the lower the sheet resistance, while the thinner the film, the better the gas permeability and electrochemical activity for H2 electro-oxidation. These tradeoffs are quantitatively computed for cell dimensions and area specific resistances, thus suggesting an optimal design for affordable and high-performance electrodes.

Graphical abstract: Integrated design of a Ni thin-film electrode on a porous alumina template for affordable and high-performance low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Mar 2017
Accepted
18 Apr 2017
First published
02 May 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 23600-23606

Integrated design of a Ni thin-film electrode on a porous alumina template for affordable and high-performance low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

S. Ji, H. G. Seo, S. Lee, J. Seo, Y. Lee, W. H. Tanveer, S. W. Cha and W. Jung, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 23600 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA02719B

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