Influence of Substrate on Conductivity of Sr and Mg Doped Lanthanum Gallate Thin Film Electrolyte for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) consisting of ion conductive ceramics has various advantages such as the high generating efficiency, the utilization of hydrocarbon-containing fuel and the non-necessity of expensive rare metal catalyst. Yttria-stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) or Gadolinium-doped Ceria (GDC) are mainly used as the electrolyte for SOFC. Strontium- and Magnesium-doped Lanthanum Gallate (La_0.9Sr_0.1Ga_0.8Mg_0.2O_3-δ, LSGM) has higher conductivity than YSZ, negligible electronic conduction and high chemical stability in a wide oxygen partial pressure range compared to GDC.

Recently, it was reported that YSZ and GDC thin films have different values of ion conductivity from those of the bulk. LSGM should have the similar phenomenon. The reason for this change of the conductivity is assumed to be the lattice strain in the thin film, the difference between the bulk resistivity and the grain boundary resistivity or space charge layers at homo- or hetero-junctions. However, the mechanism of the conductivity change of LSGM thin film from the bulk is not revealed.

In this study, the radio frequency magnetron sputtering, which is a reliable method for preparing thin film, was used for obtaining various thickness films on sapphire and quartz substrate. However, the deposited film was amorphous. To obtain the crystallized LSGM film, we investigated the influence of the annealing temperature. By proper post-annealing, crystallized LSGM film was obtained. We evaluated the crystallinity by X-ray diffraction, observed the microstructure with a scanning electron microscope and measured the conductivity by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In this paper, we report the effect on the electrical conductivity of the difference of thermal expansion co efficiency between LSGM thin film and the substrate.