Development and characterisation of glass and glass ceramic sealants for solid oxide electrolyser cells

Glass and glass ceramic are now well known for their high performances as sealants operating around 800 °C in solid oxide electrolyser cell. Several new formulations have been prepared and investigated: silica alkali borosilicate glass formulations that will create a glass sealant and calcium aluminosilicate formulations that will create a glass ceramic sealant. Thermal and physicochemical properties of several glasses and glass ceramics along with the crystallisation behaviour were investigated. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the prepared glasses were found to be within the range of 600–730 °C. Shrinkage, sintering, softening, deformation and crystallisation temperatures of the parent glasses have been measured by hot stage microscopy. Microstructure and chemical composition of crystalline phases have been investigated using microprobe analysis. Bonding characteristics as well as chemical interactions of the parent glasses with yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ®) electrolyte and high chromium steel-based interconnect (Crofer®) have also been studied.