Enhanced electrochemical properties of Sm 0.2 Ce 0.8 O 1.9 film for SOFC electrolyte fabricated by pulsed laser deposition

The cubic fluorite structure Sm 0.2 Ce 0.8 O 1.9 (SDC) film was fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to be used as electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The SDC target was prepared by co‐precipitation process at a low sintering temperature (1,250 °C) with a relative density of 97 %. By inserting the PLD seed layer with the thickness of 3 μm, robust electrolyte films were successfully fabricated on La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3 (LSCF) substrate. The SDC film growing at a substrate temperature of 650 °C with thermal treatment and oxygen gas pressure of 10 Pa has high ionic conductivity of 0.075 S·cm −1 at 800 °C. The results demonstrate that the dense SDC thin films prepared by PLD are suitable for low‐temperature SOFC applications.