Gadolinia-Doped Ceria Films Prepared by Using an Air-Blast Spray Deposition Technique

Abstract

In this work, air-blast spray deposition (ASD) was applied to prepare dense gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) films on silicon substrates for electrolyte applications in solid oxide fuel cells. The morphology of the GDC film depended on process parameters such as the substrate temperature, the liquid flow rate, the deposition time and the nozzle-substrate distance. The effects of heating temperature on the crystal structures of the films were investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the heating temperature range of 400 degrees C to 1000 degrees C. A dense GDC film was successfully prepared in a solution flow rate range of 1 l/min to 1.8 l/min, a substrate temperature range of 149 degrees C to 243 OC, a nozzle-substrate distance range of 1 cm to 6 cm and a deposition time range of 0.5 min to 4 min.