RF-sputtering Deposition of Gadolinia Doped Ceria Films for IT-SOFCs Applications

Solid oxide fuel cell technology offers substantial advantages for clean and efficient power generation. However, the high working temperatures impose severe restrictions on the materials selection. The key to prolong the stack lifetime, widen the selection of materials and reduce the costs lies in lowering the working temperature. Two main approaches have been applied for this purpose: testing materials based on Gd doped CeO2, having higher ionic conductivity at lower temperatures, and decreasing the electrolyte thickness. At present, different methods have been studied for the deposition of fully dense thin coatings. Among them, the radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique is a powerful and versatile tool to deposit mixed oxide thin films in a wide thickness range (100 nm÷10 µm). In this report, the results about the deposition by RF magnetron sputtering of 1÷5 µm GDC films on anodic substrates will be presented.