Investigation of characteristics of the anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells with thin-film electrolyte deposited by electronion-plasma methods

The purpose of this work was the investigation of single cells of intermediate solid oxide fuel cell with thin ZrO2:Y2O3 (YSZ) electrolyte prepared by combination of reactive magnetron sputtering and pulsed electron beam treatment (EBT). Comparison of YSZ electrolyte microstructure and electrochemical characteristics of fuel cells made with electron beam treatment application and without it was realized. It was shown that EBT of thin YSZ sublayer allows improving of the deposited electrolyte crystallinity and increasing of its conductivity. A two-fold increase in power density and a decrease in the YSZ electrolyte resistance compared to the samples produced only by magnetron sputtering were achieved. The ohmic resistance and the maximum power density of the best samples about of 0.21-0.23 Ohm?cm2 and of 610 mW/cm2, respectively, at 800°C were obtained.