Atmospheric Vapor Deposition and Atmospheric Pressure Inductively Coupled Plasma Focused Beam System for Large-scale Manufacturing of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Low Operation Temperature

The numerous advantages of the solid oxide fuel cells with low operation temperature (LT-SOFCs)   and  many challenges  for renewable energy appeared to be not used and these devices are still far from replacing well-established energy sources in automotive industry.  Many  obstacles  are on  the way to their commercialization and main of them is  high cost of  a manufacturing  equipment  for deposition  on the porous Ni-YSZ anode of  an  impermeable YSZ electrolyte with thickness around 1 um.  Such thickness offers a sufficient  ionic conductivity  around 1.0 W/cm ² at  a reduced operation temperature below 600^oC.  However, a deposited  thin  electrolyte can inherit porosity of substrate.  On other hand, clogging of pores during deposition can interrupt   delivery of fuel to the anode-electrolyte interface and drain  of byproducts of  electro- catalytic  reactions.   Required   performance of such film  can  be  achieved using  a method of  Glanced Angle Deposition (GLAD)  provided by  Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD).  Because of  high cost of the PLD equipment  manufacturing of the LT-SOFCs is limited   just with  the laboratory scale.  

   Nanocoating Plasma Systems Inc (NPS)   challenges   the  expensive and low productive PLD method   with  an Atmospheric Vapor   Deposition  (AVP).  Such  chamber-less method uses  an  AP-ICP focused plasma beam  designed to  replace laser.  The AP-ICP beam can serve as a source of directed thermal energy as well as the carrier of the  focused  YSZ vapor stream.  Vapor is generated due to  melting and vaporization of a  commercial nanopowder of YSZ  injected into the high temperature plasma.  As  the carrier of the thermal energy  this beam can also provide   a post-deposition  sintering  for transition of an amorphous layers in the nanocrystallines   growing  laterally  in order to overlap the pores. The  plasma beam with crossover with the sub- millimeter  size is  generated   from the ICP torch  sustained by the  saddle RF antenna with the transversal RF magnetic field.  This torch is  narrowed by an  aerodynamic nozzle and the ejected beam is  focused  by  electric field between  a spatial charge of dense plasma at  the exit of the nozzle  and  a grounded extractor.  Diameter of deposition spot is controlled by distance  between exit of the nozzle and the extractor.  It depends also on the  RF power applied to the antenna and gas flow rate.  Deposition in atmosphere is complicated by ambient  nitrogen hindering process of   nucleation.   Adding of hydrogen in the argon flow and elevating of temperature of substrate    mitigate such effect.