Preparation of Inks for Inkjet Printing of Thin Films in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cell technology can achieve high efficiency when producing electric power. To produce these fuel cells with a high quality and a low cost, inkjet printing can be utilized. This technique is highly dependent on having suitable inks for printing.

In this thesis, several inks were made out of spray pyrolized \ch{La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO3} which can be used as a cathode material for solid oxide fuel cells. The inks were tested for stability and characterised by electron microscopy and particle size distribution to see if they were suitable for inkjet printing.

Several successful printings were done with an ink which consisted of isopropanol with ethyl cellulose as a dispersant.

This ink appears to be suitable for the purpose of printing cathode layers if the maximum particle size can be controlled.