Fabrication of Planar and Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

The production of SOFCs [solid oxide fuel cells] is usually cost-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, coupling a low cost technique like tape casting or dip coating with co-firing of several layers would be very advantageous. A reproducible co-tape casting technique for the mass production of the planar fuel cells is described. A method for the fabrication of tubular anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells using dip coating technique is developed. Cathode was added to the co-fired half cells by screen printing. A cellulose rod was prepared as a sacrificing core for dipping into anode support, anode interlayer, and electrolyte slurries, and co-firing of the tubular SOFC was advantageously performed in one sintering cycle. Structural flaws including a variety of curling and cracking behaviors observed in dried tape casts, and the effect of different fabrication parameters on the successful fabrication rate of SOFCs are investigated. The compositional and structural study of the different layers was performed to improve the electrochemical performance of the SOFCs. The electrochemical performance of the fuel cells were improved through fine-tuning the anode interlayer thickness, finding the optimum cathode sintering temperature, and optimizing the pore-former content in the cathode interlayer and cathode current collection layer. Polyaniline was synthesized using in situ polymerization by the rapid mixing method. A thin film of conductive polyaniline deposited uniformly on the PE membrane, and also on the slide glass. In situ polymerization of aniline in liquid phase and vapor phase was done. PANI deposited on PE membrane and the conductivity of deposited PANI measured and compared with the data in the literature. An in-situ IR study was carried out to study the in situ polymerized polyaniline by rapid mixing in liquid phase.