The Effect of Morphology of SOFC Layers Made by 3D Printer on the Electrochemical Properties of the Cell

Abstract

The microstructure and properties of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) connected to the fabrication process are discussed in this paper. In this research, we investigate the relationship between electrochemical performance in solid oxide fuel cells and the evolution of the morphology of its electrodes. This work fabricated a planar multilayer anode-supported, anode functional layer (AFL), electrolyte, and cathode solid oxide fuel cell through slurry-based 3D printing. After drying and sintering, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images a multilayer porous structure with large pores up to several microns and smaller pores of 100 nm, and the constituent particles' microstructure for anode-cathode layers were observed. The electrolyte layer structure was dense and without pores. In the study of electrochemical properties, the maximum power density at the output voltage of 0.5 V was achieved at 0.84 W/cm2 at an open-circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.06 V at 800 °C with H2 gas as fuel. The impedance curve values under open-circuit voltage were 0.23 V and 1.25 V at high and low frequencies, respectively.