Preparation And Characterization Of Cathode Function Layer Of SOFC By Magnetron Sputtering Oblique Deposition

Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (Intermediate Temperature SOFC) is an environmentally machine that can converse chemical energy to electronic energy efficiently. To improve the compatibility between the cathode and the electrolyte, cathode function layer can to be added between the two layers, which should have high electronic conductivity, long three-phase boundary, high porosity, and good thermal expansion coefficient compatibility with both the electrolyte and the cathode layer. The work of this paper is to fabricate a kind of cathode function layer which is to infiltrate the porous YSZ film scaffold with Ni.Magnetron sputtering is kind of film growth technique which has a high deposition rate, low substrate temperature, low cost, easy operation and so on. Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) combined with magnetron sputtering can be used to prepare porous films which has columns structure. The interspace between the columns can be large enough to achieve a high porosity. Actually, Glancing Angle Deposition has been used to prepare films with different shapes of columns, such as zigzag shape, V-shape, helix and so on. This technique has been used to fabricate kinds of devices including sensors, solar cells and solid oxide fuel cells, etc.I used reactive magnetron sputtering combined with glancing angle deposition to prepare porous YSZ films to investigate the influence of different experiment parameters on the structure and properties of YSZ films. Then come these conclusions from experiments and analysis:1. Films fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering combined with glancing angle deposition have inclined columns. There exist pores among these columns. Deposition angle has an effect on the structure and properties of these porous YSZ films, which are mainly reflected in crystallization, inclined column angle, porosity, and refractive index, transmittance and reflectance spectrum. At the same time, deposition angle will also influence the deposition rate, which is mainly determined by the shadowing effect and adatoms surface diffusion. When the deposition angle is60°, I can achieve YSZ films with a high porosity at a relatively high deposition rate.2. Prepare porous YSZ films when the deposition angle is0°and measure its electric property. The electric conductivity of porous YSZ films fabricated by magnetron sputtering and that of bulk YSZ material are comparable. The trend accords with the Arrhenius equation.3. The YSZ film grown on NiO-YSZ anode under0°deposition angle become dense when sintered under1200℃which is lower than the sinter temperature required by YSZ fabricated by other means. YSZ films grown on half cell have a high porosity. It can be used as SOFC cathode function layer after infiltration of Ni.