Metal Supported Proton Conducting Ceramic Cell with Thin Film Electrolyte for Electrolysis Application

Manufacturing of metal supported proton conducting ceramic cells is investigated in the present study. A low temperature fabrication route was chosen to avoid metal corrosion during the fabrication process, in which pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was employed to apply the thin-film BaZr0.7Ce0.2Y0.1O3-δ electrolyte layer. The surface condition of the support layer is a critical aspect to produce a dense and gas-tight electrolyte layer by PLD. In order to decrease the average size of the 10-30 µm large pores in metal substrate down to the nano-scale, different powders with different particles size were successfully fabricated and integrated into a pore-size graded structure to form a homogeneous porous surface whose size distribution meets the requirements for making a dense PLD coating layer. An electrolyte layer with the intended phase is achieved with a thickness of around 1 µm. Initial electrochemical investigation with a Pt oxygen electrode showed a total resistance of 4.92 Ω cm2 at 600°C at OCV.