2009 Volume 42 Issue 5 Pages 351-357
For high temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) applications, the electrical characteristics of electrolyte membranes made by yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) were analyzed with respect to sintering temperature and sintering time. The electrolyte membranes were prepared using dry and wet processes. Microstructure analysis of SEM photographs confirmed that membrane’s grain size increased while the pore size and the porosity decreased with an increase in the sintering temperature. At the sintering temperature of 1400°C, the densities of the electrolyte membranes prepared using the dry and the wet process were 6.13 and 6.25 g/cm3, respectively. The conductivity of the prepared electrolyte membrane was measured by AC impedance analyzer at 800–1000°C. The conductivities of the electrolyte membranes, measured at 1000°C, were 8.8 × 10–2 and 11 × 10–2 S/cm for the dry and the wet process, respectively. When considering conductivity and resistance, results in this study indicate that the wet process of preparing electrolyte membrane is more useful than the dry process.
