Effect of Sintering Aid on CGO Electrolyte for the Fabrication of Low Cost, Structural-controlled Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

This paper reports the effort in reducing sintering temperature of cerium gadolinium oxide (CGO), a common intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrolyte, by doping it with lithium nitrate (LiNO3) at 1, 2 and 3 mol%. LiNO3-CGO/NiO-CGO electrolyte/anode dual-layer hollow fibre (HF) for micro-tubular SOFC has been developed in this study via brush painting technique. The developed dual-layer HFs, which are co-sintered at 900-1250°C with the interval of 50°C, characterized by mechanical strength and microstructural analysis. Benefit of this study is the reduction of the sintering temperature, which eventually contributes to the fabrication of low-cost SOFC. Moreover, brush painting technique provides great adhesion between anode and electrolyte layer during sintering. With the increasing sintering temperature and content of LiNO3, densification and the mechanical strength of the developed dual-layer HF increased. Based on the experimental works, a sintering temperature of 1150°C with 3 mol% of LiNO3 as sintering additive is recommended for the construction of the low cost dual-layer micro-tubular SOFCs.