• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.525-530
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• 2019

The performance and stability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) depend on the microstructure of the electrode and electrolyte. In anode, porosity and pore distribution affect the active site and fuel gas transfer. In an electrolyte, density and thickness determine the ohmic resistance. To optimizing these conditions, using costly method cannot be a suitable research plan for aiming at commercialization. To solve these drawbacks, we made high performance unit cells with low cost and highly efficient ceramic processes. We selected the NiO-YSZ cermet that is a commercial anode material and used facile methods like die pressing and dip coating process. The porosity of anode was controlled by the amount of carbon black (CB) pore former from 10 wt% to 20 wt% and final sintering temperature from $1350^{\circ}C$ to $1450^{\circ}C$. To achieve a dense thin film electrolyte, the thickness and microstructure of electrolyte were controlled by changing the YSZ loading (vol%) of the slurry from 1 vol% to 5 vol. From results, we achieved the 40% porosity that is well known as an optimum value in Ni-YSZ anode, by adding 15wt% of CB and sintering at $1350^{\circ}C$. YSZ electrolyte thickness was controllable from $2{\mu}m$ to $28{\mu}m$ and dense microstructure is formed at 3vol% of YSZ loading via dip coating process. Finally, a unit cell composed of Ni-YSZ anode with 40% porosity, YSZ electrolyte with a $22{\mu}m$ thickness and LSM-YSZ cathode had a maximum power density of $1.426Wcm^{-2}$ at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.97-104
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• 2024

The electrodes of commercialized lithium secondary batteries are manufactured through a wet coating process, and the drying process (DC) is a very important factor as to electrode production speed and process cost. In this study, silicon anodes were manufactured under high-temperature (180 ℃) and low-temperature (50 ℃) DC to investigate the quality and the electrochemical performance of Si-electrodes according to DC. High-temperature DC can quickly evaporate the solvent in the Si-electrode slurry, improving the electrode production rate. However, this also causes the electrode composite to peel off from the current collector. As a result, the Si-electrode's adhesion weakened, and the electrode coating's quality deteriorated. In addition, the Si-electrode manufactured under high-temperature was found to have a thicker composite material than the Si-electrode manufactured under low-temperature. Si-electrodes manufactured under high-temperature had higher sheet resistance and lower electrical conductivity than those manufactured under low-temperature. Consequently, the Si-electrode manufactured under low-temperature showed 152.5% superior cycle performance compared to the Si-electrode manufactured under high-temperature. (Discharge capacities of Si-electrodes manufactured under high-temperature and low-temperature DC were 844 and 1287 mAh g^-1, respectively, after 300 cycles). Establishing the DC of Si-electrodes can easily provide new perspectives to improve the quality and stability of Si-electrodes.