Vapor Deposition of Thin-Film Y-Doped ZrO2 For Electrochemical Device Applications

Abstract

AbstractThe growth of high-quality, pin-hole free, ytrrium doped ZrO2 thin films is of great interest for a variety of electrochemical applications such as fuel cells and oxygen gas separation devices. In the work, we have grown polycrystalline thin films of ytrrium doped ZrO2 on thick porous Al2O3 substrates in multilayer La1-xSrxMEO3/YSZ/La1-xSrxMEO3 (ME = Mn, Co) configurations using a combination of single-target RF magnetron sputtering and electron beam physical vapor deposition techniques. The structure and morphology of these films have been studied using X-ray diffraction, and Scanning Electron Microscopy techniques. The ionic conductivity of the thin films has been measured using AC impedance analysis.