Technological issues in the manufacturing of anode-supported half-cells

The production of planar, anode-supported half-cell with suitable morphological characteristics needs a careful control of the thermal treatments involved. Although the thermal profiles are generally well analyzed in literature, the role played by the setter plates on the half-cell manufacturing is generally neglected although they can strongly affect the final results. In this study, the influence of the nature of setter plates in the production of large area NiO-YSZ/YSZ half cells was deeply investigated. In particular, the performance and the possible interaction of the SiC, alumina and zirconia setter plates with the half-cell during the sintering stage were thoroughly evaluated in order to assess the best thermal setup. © The Electrochemical Society.