Integration of innovative oxide materials in an IT-SOFC
This thesis aimed at assessing the potential of a novel cathode / electrolyte couple for IT-SOFC applications (700°C), through the elaboration and testing of planar anode-supported cells. The materials involved were the perovskite-structured BaIn0.3Ti0.7O2.85 (BIT07) electrolyte and the rare earth nickelate Ln2-xNiO4+ (LnN, Ln = La, Nd, Pr) cathodes, both materials having shown promising properties in preliminary work done at the IMN and the ICMCB. The first part of this thesis concerned the implementation of a cell elaboration protocol using low-cost and scalable shaping techniques (cell size 3 x 3 cm2); namely, the Ni / BIT07 anodes were elaborated by tape casting, the BIT07 electrolyte by vacuum slip casting and the cathodes by screen printing. Comparison of electrochemical results for a first and second generation of cells highlighted the usefulness of adding a GDC buffer layer in between the LnN cathodes and the BIT07 electrolyte. The best performance has been obtained for a cell BIT07 / Ni | BIT07 | GDC | PrN, with a power density at 700°C and 0.7 V of 176 mW cm-2 for a competitive polarisation resistance of 0.29 Ω cm2. The main limitation of the performance has been determined to be related to the internal resistance of the test setup, giving anomalously high series resistances. This cell has been successfully operated beyond 500 hours under current, although with a fairly high extrapolated degradation rate of 27% / kh.