Improved oxygen surface exchange kinetics at grain boundaries in nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia

Joong Sun Park, Timothy P. Holme, Joon Hyung Shim, Fritz B. Prinz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Quantum simulations of oxygen incorporation at a Σ5 grain boundary in yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), a common solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) electrolyte, show that the incorporation energy is reduced compared with YSZ with no grain boundaries. The simulation results are supported by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements conducted on a single crystalline YSZ substrate with nanogranular interlayered YSZ. EIS results showed that single crystalline YSZ membranes with nanogranular surface (i.e., high grain boundary densities) exhibit small electrode impedances than the reference single crystalline YSZ. The 20-nm-thick nanogranular YSZ interlayer was fabricated by atomic layer deposition and the performance for SOFCs with nanograined interlayer was increased by factor of 2 at operating temperatures between 350 and 450 °C.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)107-111
Number of pages5
JournalMRS Communications
Volume2
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012 Sept

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Science(all)

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