TJ224 : Preparation of tubular zirconia baxsed solid electrolyte by electrophoretic deposition
Thesis > Central Library of Shahrood University > Mechanical Engineering > MSc > 2013
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A fuel cell is a system that converts the chemical energy of a fuel directly to electricity. Compared to other types of fuel cells, a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an all-solid-state fuel cell baxsed on a solid oxide electrolyte, which potentially offers the highest energy efficiency with minimum emissions, and a wide variety of fuels from hydrogen to natural gas, coal gas, reformed gasoline can be converted to electricity. The performance and durability of SOFCs depend strongly on the microstructure and morphology of cell components. A single SOFC consists of an anode and a cathode separated by a solid oxide electrolyte (an ionic conductor). Solid electrolyte must be an electronic insulator (prohibiting the conduction of electrons or electron holes) and gas impermeable (in a dense membrane form).
The most studied SOFC electrolytes are baxsed on oxygen ion conductors such as yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ, with a composition of 8 mol.% Y2O3-92 mol.% ZrO2, sometimes referred as 8YSZ). YSZ baxsed SOFCs usually operate at high temperatures (750–1000°C) to be efficient, but to reduce the cost of materials and increase the durability of system components, it is desirable to reduce the operating temperature, so electrolytes must be as thin as possible. Many kinds of methods have been employed to make the YSZ electrolyte film, e.g., tape casting, electrochemical vapor deposition (EVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and more recently, electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Because both EVD and PVD are expensive, yet most of the cheaper processes do have difficulties of obtaining controllable precision and repeatable quality, EPD has become a prominent candidate with great practical potential. Besides the conventional application of EPD, such as the application of wear resistant and antioxidant ceramic coatings, there is an increasing interest for its application in advanced microelectronic devices and solid-oxide fuel cells. Therefore, the EPD method was proposed for the fabrication of tubular electrolyte for SOFCs in this project.
In EPD process, charged particles in a suspension move toward the opposite charged electrode under a DC electrical field. Then, these particles coagulate on the electrode and form a dense film. A fundamental requirement for a successful application of the EPD technique is the production of a stable suspension of particles in a suitable solvent with a high zeta potential. In this project, EPD technique is used to prepare YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) thin film on graphite rod substrate. In this process, isopropanol is used as solvent, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid as dispersant and PVB as binder in YSZ suspension. The main idea is to establish suitable conditions for preparing stable suspensions to obtain several closed end tubes without cracks after burning out the substrate (graphite rod), drying the green ceramic tube and sintering to high density. According to the experiments it can be concluded that the best sample with greater properties and forming condition is the one which is formed from a suspension with binder and the composite of 3YSZ and 8YSZ powders.
Keywords:
#Electrophoretic deposition #fuel cells #electrolyte #YSZ powders
Keeping place: Central Library of Shahrood University
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Keeping place: Central Library of Shahrood University
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