The effect of RF-sputtering temperature of yittria-stabilized zirconia nanostructure electrolyte for SOFC application

Abstract

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films were fabricated successfully using reactive RF magnetron sputtering. The substrate had been used are sapphire glass. A pure ceramic of Zr-Y is synthesized and processed into a planar magnetron target which is reactively sputtered with an Argon-Oxygen gas mixture to form Zr-Y-O nanostructure. The aim of this research is to synthesize YSZ thin film by using RF magnetron sputtering by varying the temperature deposition parameter. In this work, this research is to study the structural, morphological, thickness of YSZ nanostructure that can be used as electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). By lowering the YSZ thin film into nanostructure would enable for SOFC to be operate at lower temperature below 400oC. The YSZ nanostructure were controlled by varying the deposition parameters, including the deposition temperature and the substrate used. The crystalline of YSZ structure at 100W and temperature 300oC.X-ray diffraction study revealed that the optimum peak obtained for YSZ thin film at (111) and (002). The surface morphology of the films proved that at 300oC temperature rate deposition showed optimum growth morphology and density of YSZ thin films. Besides, the high deposition time affected the thickness of YSZ thin film at 80nm by using surface profiler. A higher rate of deposition is achievable when the sputtering mode of the Zr-Y target is metallic as opposed to oxide. YSZ is synthesizing to obtain the optimum thin film for SOFC application.