Patterned Silver Nanomesh Cathode for Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

We have tested 70 nm thick patterned dense silver mesh with close-packed nano-sized holes as catalytic air cathode for low temperature solid oxide fuel cells. The perforated bulk silver nano-mesh structure was fabricated by nanosphere lithography (NSL) technique using the Langmuir-Blodgett trough, and the pore opening size was 500 similar to 600 nm. Fuel cell tests were conducted using nano-mesh silver cathodes on commercial 100 mu m-thick 8% yttria stabilized zirconia electrolytes with sputtered porous platinum anodes. The performance of the cells was measured at temperatures of 475 similar to 550 K by examining the current-voltage curves, maximum power densities, and impedance spectra using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. We observed that nano-mesh silver cathodes outperformed both nano-mesh platinum and randomly sputtered porous silver, and exhibited improved thermal stability.