Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based ultrafast photonic sintering of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs): prospects for time-efficient/two-dimensional scalability to large-sized SOFCs

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are potential future energy conversion devices. Here, we report infrared vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for the ultrafast fabrication of SOFCs. VCSELs eliminate the organic additives and densify the laminated multilayered SOFC NiO-YSZ|NiO-ScCeSZ|ScCeSZ|GDC (where YSZ, ScCeSZ, and GDC denote Zr0.92Y0.08O2−δ, Zr0.89Sc0.1Ce0.01O2−δ, and Ce0.9Gd0.1O2−δ, respectively) in just 2.42 h compared to >100 h needed for the conventional thermal sintering process. The process benefits from a VCSEL-based infrared light-material coupling effect, which allows a rapid and uniform thermal heating profile. LSC (La0.6Sr0.4CoO3−δ)-GDC composite cathodes and GDC scaffolds for LSC infiltration are also fabricated using VCSEL-based sintering. SOFCs fabricated using VCSELs alone and in combination with infiltrated LSC generated 1.86 and 2.24 W cm−2 at 750 °C, respectively, and performed more robustly compared to the 1.69 W cm−2 and degradative performance of the SOFC fabricated using conventional sintering. VCSELs offer excellent processing compatibility and show great potential for accelerated fabrication of high-performance SOFCs. © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.