Thermally sprayed high-performance porous metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells with nanostructured La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ cathodes

While porous metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells (PMS-SOFCs) have potential to dramatically reduce the cost while enhancing the durability of SOFC technology, the available fabrication processes are still cumbersome and unsuitable for commercial applications. Here, we report our findings in exploring low-cost, additive, thermal spray processes suitable for large-scale manufacturing of PMS-SOFCs. The additive fabrication process starts with a porous metal support, on which a porous nickel-based anode layer and a dense electrolyte membrane are sequentially deposited. Then, a nanostructured La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (LSCF) cathode layer is applied using a liquid precursor high velocity oxygen fuel flame (LP-HVOF) spraying process. The polarization resistance of the LSCF cathode is reduced to 0.15 Ω cm2 at 600 °C and 0.025 Ω cm2 at 750 °C. The PMS-SOFCs display excellent performance, demonstrating peak power densities of 0.23, 0.65, 1.1, and 1.5 W cm−2 at 500, 600, 700, and 750 °C, respectively, while maintaining impressive stability (no observable change for more than 600 h at 650 °C). Our results suggest that thermal spraying has potential to be a low-cost and flexible process suitable for large-scale fabrication of commercial PMS-SOFCs.