To reduce the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells, structures with thin films electrolytes, deposited by spray coating on porous anode were developed. The slurries used for the fabrication of the films were prepared using appropriates suspensions with ytria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powers, solvents, dispersants, binders and plasticizers appropriates. In this work the study of the influence of the binders in the stability of the suspensions and the microstructures properties of the YSZ films were done. Three slurries were made with different composition of binders (0.5; 1.0 and 2.0 % in weight). All of them showed pseudo-plastics and thixotropics flow behavior, according to viscosities measurements and shear rate. The films were sintered to 1500 ºC /6 hours. The images of scanning electron micrographs (SEM) were treated by Quantikov program to determine the porosity of the film and average grain size of YSZ. The films showed adequate porosity for being used as SOFC electrolyte (between 0.2 and 0.4%) and average grain size between 2.0 and 6.0 µ m. The spray coating is a suitable technique to fabricate the YSZ electrolytes for SOFC.
SOFC; ZrO2/Y2O3; rheology; microstructure
