7_2019__Preparation of thin electrolyte flm via dry pressingheating quenching

he development of technologies used to prepare thin electrolyte films will stimulate the application of electrolytesupported SOFCs since thin electrolyte films typically have low ohmic resistances and good electrochemical performance. This paper presents a novel method for the preparation of thin electrolyte films for yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) via dry pressing/heating/quenching/calcining. The thicknesses of the as-prepared YSZ films were as low as 78 μm, which is significantly thinner than those prepared using a traditional method (greater than 200 μm) via dry pressing/calcining/polishing. More importantly, the preparation process was quicker. Using this novel method, a YSZ-supported cell with a configuration of (La_0.6Sr_0.4)_0.9Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3-δ (LSCF)–Ce_0.8Sm_0.2O_2-δ(SDC)/SDC/YSZ/SDC/Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3−δ(BSCF)–SDC was fabricated and tested. The results showed promising electrochemical performance and a peak power density of 0.64 W cm⁻² at 850 °C was obtained, which was much higher than the cell fabricated using the traditional method (0.29 W cm⁻²). The ohmic resistance (RO) at 850 °C is 0.19 Ω cm², which is much lower than that of the cell fabricated using the traditional method (0.33 Ω cm²) at an identical temperature. The modified method described in this work is shown to be a promising technique to prepare thin electrolyte films for high-performance, elec-trolyte-supported SOFCs.