Porous ceramics of Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) were prepared by tape-casting methods using both pyrolyzable pore formers and NiO followed by acid leaching. The porosity of YSZ wafers increased in a regular manner with the mass of graphite or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) to between 60% and 75% porosity. SEM indicated that the shape of the pores in the final ceramic was related to the shape of t...

Yttria-stabilized zirconia YSZ is modeled using a cluster expansion statistical thermodynamics method built upon a density-functional theory database. The reliability of cluster expansions in predicting atomic ordering is explored by comparing with the extensive experimental database. The cluster expansion of YSZ is utilized in lattice Monte Carlo simulations to compute the ordering of dopant a...

Porous yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has been regarded as a potential candidate for bone substitute due to its high mechanical strength. However, porous YSZ is biologically inert to bone tissue. It is therefore necessary to introduce bioactive coatings onto the walls of the porous structures to enhance its bioactivity. In this study, porous YSZ scaffolds were prepared using a replication tec...

Laser surface melting has been applied to near eutectic NiO-YSZ sintered ceramics. The objective is to generate a functional gradient composite material with graded microstructure and composition. At low solidification rates the resultant material has a graded composition, with a severe NiO segregation towards the surface. A thick NiO layer whose thickness depends on the travelling speed is for...

Anode aluminum oxide-supported thin-film fuel cells having a sub-500-nm-thick bilayered electrolyte comprising a gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) layer and an yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) layer were fabricated and electrochemically characterized in order to investigate the effect of the YSZ protective layer. The highly dense and thin YSZ layer acted as a blockage against electron and oxygen per...

Degradation of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is probably the biggest concern in the field of high temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE). Anode supported, YSZ-based microtubular solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) have been tested in fuel cell mode and also at high voltages (up to 2.8V) under electrolysis mode. At high steam conversion rates the cell voltage tends to saturate. Our hypothesis ...

We employed operando anomalous surface X-ray diffraction to investigate the buried interface between the cathode and the electrolyte of a model solid oxide fuel cell with atomic resolution. The cell was studied under different oxygen pressures at elevated temperatures and polarizations by external potential control. Making use of anomalous X-ray diffraction effects at the Y and Zr K-edges allow...

In our study, the Ni/YSZ ReaxFF reactive force field was developed by combining the YSZ and Ni/C/H descriptions. ReaxFF reactive molecular dynamics (RMD) were applied to model chemical reactions, diffusion, and other physicochemical processes at the fuel/Ni/YSZ interface. The ReaxFF RMD simulations were performed on the H2/Ni/YSZ and C4H10/Ni/YSZ triple-phase boundary (TPB) systems at 1250 and ...

Anodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been prepared by electrodeposition of either Co or Ni into a layer of porous yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), 60 μm thick. The YSZ, having 65% porosity, was prepared by tape casting with graphite pore formers and was attached to the dense YSZ electrolyte. After adding 10 vol % CeO2 by impregnation of aqueous solutions of CeNO3)3, followed by calci...

It is well known that several ceramic materials develop an usual; and sometimes unique; combination of properties as a result of mixing different phases with similar expansion coefficients. Sometimes they are elastically stiff, have relatively low thermal expansion coefficients, good thermal and electrical conductivities, and are resistant to chemical attack. As this paper will show, their mech...