Fabrication of cathode supported SOFC by colloidal processing

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been used to grow thin films of solid oxide fuel cell components on a porous cathode support. EPD exploits a surface charge on particles in a stable suspension migrating in the presence of an appropriate electric field to effect the consolidation of particles onto any shaped substrate. In this investigation, both flat and tubular supports have been used. Both types of supports were fabricated using tape casting followed by lamination. Suspension chemistries containing LSM-YSZ, YSZ and NiO-YSZ have been standardized. The thickness of the films as developed for the cathode functional layer, electrolyte, and anode were 15, 5 and 50 urn respectively. The electrophoretically deposited coatings resulted in high quality, crack-free green (unfired) films and even after firing the surface remained smooth, continuous and homogeneous.