Specialty inks

For smooth printing of functional layers

Innovative inks are now produced for cathode, anode, electrolyte and ceria buffer layers. Based on non-hazardous organic solvent and food grade binders, they are fully soluble in water for easy mesh washing.

screen printing inks 1 slurry paste electrode SOFC fuel cell electrolyte anode cathode buffer layer powders lscf lsc nio bscf ysz gdc sdc ydc lsm ferrite ceria encre serigraphie fuelcellmaterial water 1 image testing

Specialty ink properties

Adjustable viscosity, from liquid up to solid paste
Adjustable drying rate, from room temperature until 160 °C (for low evaporation rate)
Customizable composition ratio and special powders on customer request
Terpineol free, very few smelling, not hazardous components (solvent & binder)

Anode

For anode preparation, a set of three inks is offered. The latter allows the researcher to mix the chosen proportion between NiO, a fine 8YSZ (< 0.45 µm) and a coarse 8YSZ (~12 µm) to adjust the sintering rate and the porosity in the electrode. Ready anode inks are also prepared in house, on customer’s recipe.

Electrolyte

Our standard electrolyte ink is prepared with pure and fine 8% Yttria stabilised zirconia ((Y₂O₃)0.08(ZrO₂)0.92) powders provided by an European manufacturer. To control the shrinkage during sintering, coarse powders (see anode section) can be mixed together. Other electrolyte material as ScSZ for high conductivity, BCZY for protonic conductor or exotic formulation are prepared on demand.

Ceria buffer layer

The ceria buffer layer (c) is interposed between the 8YSZ electrolyte (b) and the cobaltite composite cathode (d) to prevent any solid state reaction between these two layers as SrZrO₃ or La₂Zr₂O₇ non conductive phases. Thin layer of 2.5 µm are reproducibly obtained by screen printing of Fiaxell Specialty inks with adapted screen printing meshes.

Composite cathode and ccc

SOFC cathode are composed with one layer of LSCF mixed with ceria (d) for high ionic conductivity and one layer (e) on top of pure LSCF or LSC for high electronic conductivity to allow the current collection.

Standard ink composition:
Composite cathode: 60% LSCF 6428–40% 20GDC
Cathode current collection (ccc): LSCF 6428 or LSC 64