Stable proton-conducting Ca-doped LaNbO4 thin electrolyte-based protonic ceramic membrane fuel cells by in situ screen printing

In order to develop a simple and cost-effective route to fabricate protonic ceramic membrane fuel cells (PCMFCs), a stable proton-conducting La0.99Ca0.01NbO4 (LCN) thin electrolyte was fabricated on a porous NiO-La0.5Ce0.5O1.75 (NiO-LDC) anode by in situ screen printing. The key part of this process is to directly print well-mixed ink of La2O3, CaCO3 and Nb2O5 instead of pre-synthesized LCN ceramic powder on the anode substrate. After sintering at 1400 degrees C for 5 h, the full dense electrolyte membrane in the thickness of 20 mu m was obtained. A single cell was assembled with (La0.8Sr0.2)(0.9)MnO3-delta-La0.5Ce0.5O1.75 (LSM-LDC) as cathode and tested with humidified hydrogen as fuel and static air as oxidant. The open circuit voltage (OCV) and maximum power density respectively reached 0.98 V and 65 mW cm(-2) at 800 degrees C. Interface resistance of cell under open circuit condition was also investigated. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.