Silver as a cathode for silicon-based micro solid oxide fuel cells

This work demonstrates micro-solid oxide fuel cells (μ-SOFCs) using silver as a cathode material to replace the typical platinum cathode. Silver is applicable as a cathode when the operating temperature of μ-SOFCs is reduced. The fabrication of the μ-SOFCs with a robust nanoscale electrolyte membrane is presented, and a brush-painted silver thin film cathode was integrated on to the fragile membrane. The electrochemical performance of fuel cells using nanoparticle silver cathode was characterized at temperatures below 400 °C. A satisfactory thermal stability of the silver thin film cathode was achieved with nanoparticle silver cathode, and a comparable performance to cells using the costly platinum cathode was attainable.