A novel approach to co-sintering of doped lanthanum chromite interconnect on Ni-YSZ anode substrate for SOFC applications

A cost-effective method was developed to fabricate dense doped LaCrO(3) bases interconnect membrane on anode substrate for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. As conventional lanthanum chromite interconnect is difficult to be co-sintered with green anode, a simple and cost effective screen printing/co-sintering process was employed, and dense La(1-x-y)Sr(x)Ca(y)CrO(3-delta) interconnect membrane was successfully prepared on the anode support of NiO-YSZ. In this method a base layer of doped lanthanum chromite (La(1-x)Sr(x)CrO(3-delta)) was applied on NiO-YSZ substrate and a top layer of CaCrO(4) was then coated and co-sintered to melt the top layer. By means of this method, not only CaCrO(4) melts and fills the open pores in the base layer, but it also dissolves in base layer forming La(1-x-y)Sr(x)Ca(y)CrO(3-delta) as a single layer. The sintering characteristics, microstructure and electrical conductivity of interconnect were investigated. In addition, the effects of composition on sintering and electrical properties were studied. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.