Electrochemical Performance of Ni-CGO Nano-Grained Thin Film Anodes for Micro SOFCs (original) (raw)

NiO-Ce 0.8 Gd 0.2 O 1.9-x (CGO) thin film anodes with thicknesses around 400 nm were prepared by air blast spray pyrolysis. The film composition was 60/40 vol% Ni/CGO in the reduced state. The films were deposited on tape-cast YSZ electrolytes. The material was amorphous after deposition and was crystallized by sintering in air between 650 and 1200°C. The temperature treatment resulted in films with average grain sizes of the NiO and CGO grains between 5 and 250 nm. The area specific resistance of the thin film anodes was measured in a humidified 1:4 H 2 :N 2 atmosphere as a function of grain size within the temperature interval of 400-600°C. The area specific resistance (ASR) was predominantly depending on the grain size of the films. At 550°C, an ASR of 0.5 Ωcm 2 was found for the 5 nm grain size anode. The value increased to 30 Ωcm 2 for the 250 nm grain size anode.