Effect of Sputtering Pressure on the Nanostructure and Residual Stress of Thin-Film YSZ Electrolyte

Yue Teng, Ho Yeon Lee, Haesu Lee and Yoon Ho Lee ()
Additional contact information
Yue Teng: School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea
Ho Yeon Lee: School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea
Haesu Lee: School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea
Yoon Ho Lee: School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 44610, Korea

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-9

Abstract: Solid oxide fuel cells are energy conversion devices that contribute to carbon neutrality, with the advantages of high efficiency, clean emissions production, and distributed power generation. However, the high operating temperature of the solid oxide fuel cells causes system stability and material selection problems. In this study, we aimed to lower the operating temperature of a solid oxide fuel cell by reducing the thickness of the electrolyte via sputtering. The deposition process was conducted under various pressure conditions to find the optimal sputtering process for a gas-tight YSZ thin-film electrolyte. The gas-tightness of the YSZ electrolytes was evaluated by observing the nanostructure and cell performance. As a result, the YSZ thin-film deposited at 3 mTorr showed the best gas-tightness and cell performance. At 500 °C, 1.043 V of OCV and a maximum power density of 1593 mW/cm 2 were observed. Then, X-ray diffraction was used to calculate the residual stress of the YSZ films. As a result, it was confirmed that the gas-tight film showed compressive residual stress. Through this study, we were successful in developing a room-temperature YSZ electrolyte fabrication process with excellent gas-tightness and performance. It was also proven that there is a strong relationship between the gas-tightness and residual stress. This study is expected to contribute to cost reductions and the mass production of solid oxide fuel cells.

Keywords: RF magnetron sputtering; thin film solid oxide fuel cell; yttria stabilized zirconia; sputtering pressure; residual stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9704/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9704/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9704-:d:882138

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().