Application of atomic layer deposition of platinum to solid oxide fuel cells

In this study, atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to deposit Pt thin films as an electrode/catalyst layer for solid oxide fuel cells. I-V measurements were performed to determine the dependence of the fuel cell performance on the Pt film thickness at different operating temperatures. The measured fuel cell performance revealed that comparable peak power densities were achieved for ALD-deposited Pt anodes with only one-fifth of the platinum loading relative to dc-sputtered Pt anodes. The Pt films fabricated by dc sputtering and ALD had different microstructure, which accounted for the difference in their performance as a fuel cell anode. In addition to the continuous electrocatalyst layer, a micropatterned Pt structure was fabricated via area-selective ALD and used as a current collector grid/patterned catalyst for the fuel cells. An improvement of the fuel cell performance by a factor of 10 was observed using the Pt current collector grid/patterned catalyst integrated onto cathodic La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-delta. The study suggests the potential to achieve improved performance and/or lower loadings using ALD for catalysts in fuel cells.