Three-Dimensional Nanostructured Bilayer Solid Oxide Fuel Cell with

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3-D Nanostructured Bilayer Solid Oxide Fuel Cell with 1.3 W/cm2 at 450 °C Jihwan An, Young-Beom Kim, Turgut M. Gür, Joonsuk Park, and Fritz B Prinz Nano Lett., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/nl402661p • Publication Date (Web): 26 Aug 2013 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on August 27, 2013

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Abstract Obtaining high power density at low operating temperatures has been an ongoing challenge in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), which are efficient engines to generate electrical energy from fuels. Here we report successful demonstration of a thin-film 3dimensional SOFC architecture achieving a peak power density of 1.3 W/cm2 obtained at 450 °C. This is made possible by nanostructuring of the ultra-thin (60 nm) electrolyte interposed with a nano-granular catalytic interlayer at the cathode/electrolyte interface. We attribute the superior cell performance to significant reduction in both the ohmic and polarization losses due to the combined effects of employing an ultra thin film electrolyte, enhancement of effective area by 3-D architecture and superior catalytic activity by the ceria-based interlayer at the cathode. These insights will help design highefficiency SOFCs that operate at low temperatures with power densities that are of practical significance.

Keywords solid oxide fuel cells, micro solid oxide fuel cells, low temperature solid oxide fuel cells, doped-ceria interlayer, atomic layer deposition, nanosphere lithography

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Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer many advantages including quiet operation under isothermal condition, high energy conversion efficiency with thermodynamic limits in excess of 80 %, and diverse fuel flexibility by allowing the use of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons as well as hydrogen1-4. However, their high operating temperatures (usually > 800°C) pose stringent demands on materials selection to satisfy structural, chemical and thermal stability and compatibility requirements, as well as costs for materials and fabrication1,5,6. Attempts have been made to lower their operating temperature to intermediate ranges (600-800 °C)6-10, and even to lower (