Performance of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells with La(Sr)Ga(Mg)O3 electrolyte film

A La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3 (LSGM) thin film was fabricated by the usual tape casting method using a doctor blade to reduce the operating temperature in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The resultant LSGM film was 130±3 μm in thickness and its relative density was over 99%. Also, the thin LSGM film showed a single phase, and its conductivity was 0.113 S/cm at 800 °C and 0.054 S/cm at 700 °C, respectively. Therefore, it seemed that the thin LSGM film was suitable as an electrolyte for intermediate temperature operating SOFCs. Ni–SDC and La(Sr)CoO3 synthesized by spray pyrolysis were used as an anode and a cathode, respectively, and a single cell was fabricated with the thin LSGM film as an electrolyte. This single cell with the thin LSGM electrolyte exhibited excellent electrical performance, of which power density was over 0.7 W/cm2 at 800 °C and 0.4 W/cm2 at 700 °C. These results suggested that the LSGM-based SOFCs with the thin LSGM film in this study would exhibit adequate performance at a temperature lower than 700 °C.