Systematic analysis on the effect of sintering temperature for optimized performance of li0.15ni0.45zn0.4o2-gd0.2ce0.8o2-li2co3-na2co3-k2co3 based 3d printed single-layer ceramic fuel cell

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Journal Title

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Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2021-09

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

14

Series

Nanomaterials, Volume 11, issue 9

Abstract

Single-layer ceramic fuel cells consisting of Li0.15Ni0.45Zn0.4O2, Gd0.2Ce0.8O2 and a eutectic mixture of Li2CO3, Na2CO3 and K2CO3, were fabricated through extrusion-based 3D printing. The sintering temperature of the printed cells was varied from 700◦C to 1000◦C to identify the optimal thermal treatment to maximize the cell performance. It was found that the 3D printed single-layer cell sintered at 900◦C produced the highest power density (230 mW/cm2 ) at 550◦C, which is quite close to the performance (240 mW/cm2) of the single-layer cell fabricated through a conventional pressing method. The best printed cell still had high ohmic (0.46 Ω·cm2 ) and polarization losses (0.32 Ω·cm2 ) based on EIS measurements conducted in an open-circuit condition. The XRD spectra showed the characteristic peaks of the crystalline structures in the composite material. HR-TEM, SEM and EDS measurements revealed the morphological information of the composite materials and the distribution of the elements, respectively. The BET surface area of the single-layer cells was found to decrease from 2.93 m2/g to 0.18 m2/g as the sintering temperature increased from 700◦C to 1000◦C. The printed cell sintered at 900◦C had a BET surface area of 0.34 m2/g. The fabrication of single-layer ceramic cells through up-scalable 3D technology could facilitate the scaling up and commercialization of this promising fuel cell technology.

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Funding Information: This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (Grant No. 13329016, 13322738). Asghar thanks the Hubei Talent 100 program and Academy of Finland for their support. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

3D printing, Ceramic, Fuel cell, Mixed ionic and electronic conductivity, Nanocomposite, Reaction kinetics, Single-layer, Sintering

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Citation

Asghar , M I , Mäkinen , P , Virtanen , S , Maitre , A , Borghei , M & Lund , P D 2021 , ' Systematic analysis on the effect of sintering temperature for optimized performance of li 0.15 ni 0.45 zn 0.4 o 2 -gd 0.2 ce 0.8 o 2 -li 2 co 3 -na 2 co 3 -k 2 co 3 based 3d printed single-layer ceramic fuel cell ' , Nanomaterials , vol. 11 , no. 9 , 2180 . https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11092180