Chemical solution deposition of thin films for protonic ceramic fuel cells

Abstract

Chemical solution deposition (CSD) offers the opportunity to fabricate very thin electrolyte films at lower temperatures than traditional powder-based methods. CSD methods have not been used much in production of protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFC) until now. In this contribution we describe thin film deposition of the two proton-conducting materials BaZr0.9Y0.1O3-δ (BZY) and La28-xW4+xO54+δ (LWO) by spin coating. BZY films deposited on single-crystalline MgO grew epitaxially on the substrate. On a realistic PCFC cermet anode, 800 nm thick BZY films could be fabricated with a columnar structure which is promising to circumvent the low conductivity at grain boundaries of BZY. LWO films with some porosity were deposited on platinized Si from an aqueous solution.