	US 7,485,385 B2
	Process for solid oxide fuel cell manufacture
Donald A. Seccombe, Jr., Gloucester, Mass. (US); Gary Orbeck, Windham, N.H. (US); Srikanth Gopalan, Westborough, Mass. (US); and Uday Pal, Dover, Mass. (US)
Assigned to BTU International, Inc., North Billerica, Mass. (US); and The Trustees of Boston University, Boston, Mass. (US)
Filed on Sep. 10, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/939,116.
Claims priority of provisional application 60/501742, filed on Sep. 10, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2005/0089739 A1, Apr. 28, 2005
Int. Cl. H01M 8/10 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 429—30 [429/40; 429/45]

33 Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a solid oxide fuel cell, the method comprising the following steps in the following order:

forming a first electrode layer, which before firing has a thickness in a range of about 0.5 to 2.0 mm, the first electrode layer having a surface, and drying the first electrode layer;

forming an electrolyte layer by screen printing a powder slurry on the surface of the first electrode layer, and drying the electrolyte layer;

forming a second electrode layer on a surface of the electrolyte layer, and drying the second electrode layer, wherein the layers comprise a multilayer electrochemical structure;

thermally processing the multilayer structure in a single thermal cycle that includes:

heating the multilayer structure in a first portion of the single thermal cycle to a temperature and time sufficient to substantially remove moisture;

heating the multilayer structure in a second portion of the single thermal cycle to a temperature and time sufficient to substantially remove binder;

heating the multilayer structure in a third portion of the single thermal cycle to a temperature and time sufficient to substantially remove carbon residue; and

firing the multilayer structure in a fourth portion of the single thermal cycle at a temperature and time sufficient to substantially sinter each layer and to form a solid electrolyte layer.