Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Proton conducting oxide electrolyte materials could potentially lower the operating temperature of metal-supported solid oxide cells (MS-SOCs) to the intermediate range 400 to 600 °C. The porous metal substrate provides the advantages of MS-SOCs such as high thermal and redox cycling tolerance, low-cost of structural materials, and mechanical ruggedness. In this work, viability of co-sintering fabrication of metal-supported proton conducting solid oxide cells is investigated. Candidate proton conducting oxides including perovskite oxides BaZr 0.7 Ce 0.2 Y 0.1 O 3−δ , SrZr 0.5 Ce 0.4 Y 0.1 O 3−δ , and Ba 3 Ca 1.18 Nb 1.82 O 9−δ , pyrochlore oxides La 1.95 Ca 0.05 Zr 2 O 7−δ and La 2 Ce 2 O 7 , and acceptor doped rare-earth ortho-niobate La 0.99 Ca 0.01 NbO 4 are synthesized via solid state reactive or sol-gel methods. These ceramics are sintered at 1450 °C in reducing environment alone and supported on Fe-Cr alloy metal support, and their key characteristics such as phase formation, sintering property, and chemical compatibility with metal support are determined. Most electrolyte candidates suffer from one or more challenges identified for this fabrication approach, including: phase decomposition in reducing atmosphere, evaporation of electrolyte constituents, contamination of the electrolyte with Si and Cr from the metal support, and incomplete electrolyte sintering. In contrast, La 0.99 Ca 0.01 NbO 4 is found to be highly compatible with the metal support and co-sintering processing in reducing atmosphere. A metal-supported cell is fabricated with La 0.99 Ca 0.01 NbO 4 electrolyte, ferritic stainless steel support, Pt air electrode and nanoparticulate ceria-Ni hydrogen electrocatalyst. The total resistance is 50 Ω·cm 2 at 600 °C. This work clearly demonstrates the challenges, opportunities, and breakthrough of metal-supported proton-conducting solid oxide cells by co-sintering fabrication.