ELECTROCHEMICALLY FUNCTIONAL MEMBRANES
A system includes an electrochemically functional membrane, and a support structure constructed and arranged so as to support the membrane while leaving within the membrane a chemically active area having an area utilization of at least about 50%. In some embodiments, the support structure may include a plurality of grids that are sized and shaped so that the contact area between the grids and the membrane is reduced to less than about 40%. In some embodiments, the support structure may include aerogels, for example PVA-reinforced CNT aerogels having a conductivity that is increased by pyrolysis. The system may be a gas separation system; a gas production system; a gas purification system; or an energy generation system such as an SOFC.
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This application is based upon, and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/378,900 (the “'900 provisional application”), filed Aug. 31, 2010, entitled “Large-Area Nanostructured Membranes For Solid Oxide Fuel Cells”; and from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/420,319 (the “'319 provisional application”), filed Dec. 6, 2010, entitled “Electrochemically Functional Membranes.” The contents of the '900 provisional application and the '319 provisional application are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties as though fully set forth.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCHThis invention was made with government support under grant NSF PHY-0646094 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The government has certain rights in the invention.
BACKGROUNDElectrochemically functional thin membranes are useful in a variety of electrochemical applications, examples of which include gas separation; gas purification; gas production; and renewable energy generation.
For these electrochemically functional membranes, the thinner a membrane, the lower its ionic resistance, and the lower the energy needed to heat it up. The thicker the electrochemically functional membrane, the higher the required operational temperature. Conventional technologies involving the above applications typically use membranes that have a thickness on the order of micrometers. High operational temperatures are required, typically on the order of 800 degrees Celsius or higher.
As one example, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are attractive direct electrochemical energy conversion devices used in renewable energy generation applications. Unfortunately, traditional SOFCs must be operated at very high temperatures, typically 800-1000° C., to be effective. Such high operation temperatures have been limiting the application of SOFCs to stationary applications. Also, high operation temperatures add significant constraints on the choice of materials and packaging methods. At such high temperatures, the choice of materials for the electrodes and structural components of the fuel cell (for example membrane support, gas handling and sealants) is severely constrained, particularly in the reactive oxygen- and hydrogen-rich environments of a fuel cell. Even very stable materials will corrode under these conditions and/or fatigue and fail under the stress of thermal cycling. Accordingly, methods and systems for operating SOFCs below 600° C. or so must be developed in order to be able to use this technology in a variety of applications.
The use of nanoscale thin film electrolytes can be an attractive option to lower the SOFC operation temperature, since reducing the electrolyte thickness results in a significant decrease of ohmic resistance. Such thin electrolyte membranes are extremely fragile on their own, however, and rupture easily as a result of slight pressure, vibration or thermal stress.
There have been studies on solid oxide fuel cells utilizing nanoscale thin film electrolytes. For example, power density up to 100-400 mW/cm2 has been reported in the temperature range below 600° C. These results, however, were performed on very small free standing membranes, therefore total power output was also very small. This size limitation comes from the mechanical stress of the thin film cathode-electrolyte-anode assembly. Area utilization was extremely limited due i.a. to the constraints of KOH1 etching. This has been one of the technical difficulties encountered during efforts to increase total power output of thin films. 1Potassium Hydroxide
Therefore, there is a need for methods and systems for increasing the yield and electrochemical performance for the above-described electrochemically functional membranes, in particular for nanostructured membranes.
The drawings disclose illustrative embodiments. They do not set forth all embodiments. Other embodiments may be used in addition or instead.
In the present disclosure, methods and systems are disclosed relating to the fabrication and use of nanostructured membranes with large active areas are described. Potential applications include: renewable power generation applications, such as SOFCs, for example; gas separation technologies; gas purification; and gas production, such as oxygen production, for example.
It is to be understood that the inventive subject matter in the present disclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments described below, as such may vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the inventive subject matter will be limited only by the appended claims. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the inventive subject matter belongs.
Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the inventive subject matter disclosed below, a limited number of the exemplary methods and materials are described.
In overview, a system may include an electrochemically functional membrane, and a support structure constructed and arranged so as to support the membrane while leaving within the membrane a chemically active area having an area utilization of at least about 50%. In some embodiments, the support structure may include a plurality of grids that are sized and shaped so that the contact area between the grids and the membrane is reduced to less than about 40%. In some embodiments, the support structure may include one or more aerogels.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a grid-based support structure is used to increase the active area of electrochemically functional membranes. Support provided by plated nickel grids was found to provide over 60% active membrane area. Devices that can use such grids to support large membranes, for example on the order of about 5 mm2, and ultra-thin cathodes include without limitation: gas separation devices; gas production devices; gas purification devices; and energy generation devices. Examples of ultra-thin cathodes include La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (LSCF) cathodes.
As described below, plated nickel grid supports were fabricated that are able to provide over 60% active membrane area. In one embodiment, a nickel grid was first deposited on the cathode side of the membrane. This grid could stabilize a 180-nm-thick LSCF/YSZ (yttrium-stabilized zirconium)/porous Pt membrane over a 5-mm square area. In particular, a grid of plated nickel on the cathode with 5-10 μm line width and 25-50 μm pitch could be used to support a roughly 200-nm-thick LSCF/yttrium-stabilized zirconium/platinum membrane, while covering less than 20% of the membrane area. Measurements of their electrochemical performance up to 500° C. showed that this geometry yielded a maximum performance of 1 mWcm−2 and 202 mV open-circuit voltage at 500° C. Larger power output would be possible with optimized device processing.
An LOR (lift-off resist) 120 was then spun onto the sample, followed by photo resist 110, baking the layers at 170° C. and 115° C., respectively. In the illustrated embodiments, LOR-3A lift-offresist (Microchip Corp.) and S1813 photo resist (Rohm and Haas Co.) were used. Other embodiments may use different types of LOR and photo resist.
The resist was exposed with the grid pattern, and the S1813 was developed in CD-30 (Rohm and Haas Co.) and baked at 140° C. The LOR 120 was then etched in CD-26 (Rohm and Haas Co.), just long enough to reach the LSCF surface but no longer, to avoid significant undercutting. A physical mask was then placed over the chip, covering the edges, while a thin (˜100 nm) nickel seed layer 130 was sputtered onto the surface. The resulting product is shown in
The photo resist was then dissolved in acetone, lifting off the unwanted nickel seed material but leaving the LOR layer 120 intact. Next the chip was immersed in electroless nickel plating solution (Nickel, Transience Corp.) at 88° C. to plate 5-10 μm of nickel 180, as shown in
The LOR layer 120 was then dissolved in Remover PC (Microchip Corp.), then the back side nitride was patterned via reactive ion etch (RIE) using a mixture of CF4 and O2 through a physical mask, followed by etching through the wafer in 30 wt % KOH at 96° C., as shown in
Finally, the silicon nitride on the back side and underneath the membrane was removed with another RIE step, and a 0-60 nm blanket coat of YSZ 150 is sputtered onto the back side (as previously but at room temperature) followed by a porous Pt anode 190 (sputtered at room temperature in 75 mT of argon). The completed device 100 is shown schematically in
The above-described patterning procedure for the nickel grid accomplishes several goals. First, the nickel plating solution can slowly etch LSCF. Thus, the LOR protects the LSCF over what will become active membrane areas, and undercutting of this layer (which would lead to a gap between LOR and nickel seed coverage) is minimized. Second, with no nickel seed near the edge of the chip, LSCF is removed there, minimizing the possibility of electrical shorts from Pt that may deposit up the side of the chip. Third, the thickness and therefore strength of the nickel grid may be increased without usurping additional active membrane area. Because plating is roughly isotropic, the grid lines grow outward as well as upward during plating. However, due to the LOR layer, the LSCF is still exposed to gas underneath this overhang.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a relatively thin (−300 nm) LOR layer is used, which may inhibit diffusion since the overhang may be as much as 10 μm wide. In other embodiments, a thicker LOR layer may be used.
In
Considering only the image shown in
The amount of active area covered by the grid lines may be further decreased by increasing the grid pitch at constant line width. With currently used process parameters, however, a 25 μm grid is more reliable than a 50 μm grid, although chips have not emerged from processing completely defect-free.
As seen from
An apparent activation energy of 3 eV is seen during the rapid performance improvement around 450° C. in heating. This may be related to a change in morphology of one or more layers of the membrane. Although the LSCF and YSZ were deposited at 500° C. and thus are expected to already be crystalline, the improvement at 450° C. suggests that one or both of these layers required further structural transformation to achieve better electrochemical performance.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, nanostructured metal grids are used to greatly increase the active fuel cell area of micro solid oxide fuel cells (μ-SOFCs). μ-SOFCs with nanometer scale electrolytes have attracted significant attention in recent years in the context of mobile energy. Reducing the electrolyte thickness results in a decrease of ohmic resistance, thus the use of nanoscale thin film electrolytes makes it possible to lower the operation temperature of SOFCs to less than about 600° C.
For renewable power generation applications, one challenging aspect is scaling of the power generating membrane active area. In the case of micro solid oxide fuel cells (μ-SOFCs), high power density has been achieved in free standing membranes with small areas (typically about 0.01 mm2), due to large stresses originated from thin film membrane electrode assembly and limited area utilization (mostly <5%) resulting from a constraint from KOH etching of Si substrate support. For 550 μm thick Si substrates, the area utilization was only 1.3%. There is a need for significantly scaling up the active membrane areas in μ-SOFCs.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, nanostructured metal grids were used to form large area μ-SOFCs with an active area larger than 10 cm2 with an area utilization over 85%. First, 50-150 nm 8 mol % yttrium doped zirconium (electrolyte) and LSCF (cathode) were deposited on a silicon nitride coated Si wafer at about 550° C. by RF (radiofrequency) sputtering. Metal grids (Pt and/or Ag (silver)) of about 1 μm thick were created by the combination of photolithography and metal deposition by DC-sputtering on the surface of cathode. These metal grids provided mechanical support for nanoscale thin film structure and cathode current collectors.
Grid shapes, sizes and widths influence the stability of the fuel cells. A number of different shapes of the grids were tested, including square, circle, triangle, and hexagonal shapes. In one embodiment, the height of grids was about 1-2 μm thick, and the width of grids was 5-20 μm. In another embodiment, the sidelength/diameter of grids in the range from 50 μm to 500 μm was tested. As a result, circular and hexagonal shapes were found to be stable.
Following grid formation on the surface of the cathode, the back-side pattern was formed via reactive ion etching and via wet etching of Si substrate in 30 wt % KOH at 96° C. for 3 hours. Finally, a porous metal layer, for example Pt/Ni, was sputtered onto the backside to form an anode layer.
The above-described processes successfully formed large area μ-SOFC devices with a high power output, namely grid-supported μ-SOFCs with an active area larger than 10 cm2 with an area utilization over 85%. The power density of grid-supported fuel cells was tested with a cell with ˜14 mm2 and the open circuit voltage 0.4 V with a power output 4 mW was achieved at 570° C. with porous Pt anode.
In the illustrated embodiments, Pt films were deposited by DC-sputtering at room temperature. The comparison between the structure 405 illustrated in
While the grids can be of any suitable shape, suitable stable shapes include hexagons and circles, as described above. The film was supported by the grid and stable even after annealed at 450-550° C. for 2-3 hours. This approach is scalable to a wafer level as well. The performance of these Pt grid supported fuel cells were tested with 5 mm×5 mm square samples.
The embodiments described above may constitute major milestones for commercializing micro-SOFC technology for various applications having space and weight limitations.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, conducting supports were used as strengthening grid and current collector for SOFCs. In particular, a current collector and strengthening grid were made on the underside of a thin-film, wafer-supported device, without any patterning or lithography from the back side. In these embodiments, no patterning or lithography needed to occur after membrane release, when the device is fragile and prone to failure. Another advantage of this approach was that the rear electrode does not need to contact the wafer support at the edge of the active area, because the grid naturally performed this function.
While exemplary embodiments are described in which the device is a solid oxide fuel cell, the methods and systems described below are applicable to thin membranes used in a wide variety of electrochemical applications, including without limitation gas separation, gas purification, gas production, and energy production technologies
Although methods and systems are described that use a silicon wafer insulated by silicon nitride, other materials, including without limitation an electrically conducting wafer with an etch-stop coating, may be used as well.
On top of this patterned nitride, a thick layer of a material 630 that is to be used as the current collector grid is deposited. The grid material 630 may be silicon, amorphous or polycrystalline, or a metal like nickel. The grid material 630 has a thickness sufficient to provide physical support as well as current collection, namely a thickness on the order of several microns.
The electrolyte 640 and top electrode 645 layers are deposited on the layer of material 630. Another thin insulation layer may be deposited in between, optionally. At an appropriate time, the back side nitride is patterned to expose the area to be etched. The wafer has the appearance illustrated in
As illustrated in
Finally, the remaining nitride is removed from the back side of the wafer, as seen in
A related technique is illustrated in
In the step illustrated in
The wafer 710 is then etched through and remaining nitride is removed, as illustrated in
In the step illustrated in
The techniques described above may be used in a wide variety of applications in which thin membranes that are electrochemically functional may be used. In addition to energy generation technologies, such as the SOFC example described above, these applications include without limitation: gas separation systems, gas production systems, and gas purification systems. Examples of gas separation technologies may include splitting water to produce hydrogen, or separating oxygen from air.
The structure, function, fabrication and use of gas separation, gas production, and gas purification systems are described for example in a monograph entitled: “Industrial Gas Handbook: Gas Separation and Purification,” by Frank G. Kerry, CRC Press Feb. 22, 2007. The contents of this reference is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, aerogel-supported membranes have been constructed to increase the active membrane area. One option for supporting submicron membranes is to essentially reverse the conventional electrode-supported geometry by depositing the membrane on a smooth substrate, covering it with a porous material, and then removing the substrate.
Desirable properties of porous support material include: high diffusivity and a pore size substantially smaller than the maximum allowable freestanding membrane width. Also, it is desirable that the porous support material adhere to the membrane surface without wetting and blocking too many active sites, that it possess sufficient mechanical strength to counteract film stresses generated during either deposition or heating to the operating temperature, and that it be stable at high temperatures under possibly changing oxidative environments. Further desirable properties of porous support material include good electrical conductivity, so that it can function as a current collector, and good catalytic activity.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, aerogels are used as support material In particular, silica acrogel reinforced with carbon fibers, formed in situ between the membrane surface and a silicon cover piece, is used to support electrochemical membranes in one or more embodiments.
As shown in
The remaining silicon nitride is removed from the top chip with phosphoric acid (85% in water, heated to 180° C.) and the same Cr/Au bonding layer is evaporated to its bottom surface, after which the chips 850 are bonded together in an EV Group Inc. EV501 wafer bonder, at 350° C. and 1000N for 30 min at 10−5 torr. The resulting structure is shown in
The top chip serves as a container for the aerogel. This leaves an open space inset into one side of the top chip in which the aerogel is located, accessible by two slits on the other side for gas inlet and outlet.
During the next step, illustrated in
To form the gel/fiber composite, in some embodiments milled carbon fiber (Toho Tenax Co.) can be manually packed into the two-chip fuel cell assembly with a thin rectangular foil until the space is filled. In one embodiment, commercially available prepolymerized tetraethyl orthosilicate (Silbond Corp., H5), ethanol, water, and NH4OH (30% in H2O) were mixed in a 1:1, 7:1, 5:0, 007 volume ratio, then directly pipetted into the fuel cell assembly containing carbon fiber. The mixture was left in ethanol-saturated air to gel for 1 h, and then submerged in a bath of water, ethanol, and 30% NH3/H2O in a 1:1:0.003 ratio for 18-24 h, to age the gel. Ethanol replacement, then CO2 replacement followed which minimized capillary forces during drying.
In one embodiment, supercritical drying may be performed in a custom-built autoclave, constructed from a 2″ ID steel elbow as a pressure chamber, fed by a siphon-type carbon dioxide cylinder and submersed in a water bath connected to a recirculating thermoelectric temperature controller.
After the gel is dried, the structure can be completed using the same processing steps as in the grid support structures described above, as seen in
As described above, one approach toward realizing large area fuel cell junctions may include depositing a membrane on a smooth substrate, covering it with a high-porosity material formed in situ, then removing the substrate. A composite of silica aerogel and carbon fiber may be used as the support. As shown above, this material can be created in flow channels etched into the underside of a silicon chip bonded to the top of the membrane.
Other types of aerogels, for example carbon aerogels synthesized with resorcinol and formaldehyde and used with fiber support as electrodes in super capacitors may be suitable as well due to their electronic conductivity.
Further, carbon nanotube aerogels can also work well. In these gels, polyvinyl acetate (PVA) can be used to strengthen the gels. While it decreases electrical conductivity, at SOFC operating conditions the PVA may pyrolyze and enhance its conductivity. The gels can be formed as a composite with carbon fiber, since a key criterion is low shrinkage of the gel after gelation, and studies have shown that forming the gel as a composite with larger fibers accomplishes this.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an approach is used that simultaneously attains the strength of PVA-reinforced gels and the uniform conductivity of pure CNT aerogels. Pyrolysis of PVA-CNT aerogels is used to produce aerogels for supporting nanostructured electrochemical membranes. These aerogels have been shown to simultaneously attain the strength of PVA-reinforced gels and the uniform conductivity of pure CNT aerogels. Such PVA-CNT aerogels can have numerous applications, including but not limited to electrodes for batteries and super capacitors and supports for thin-film fuel cells.
In step 910, gel is formed by suspending CNTs in water using sanitation and a surfactant. This is followed by PVA infiltration in step 920, during which the gel is covered with a water/PVA solution. Then, in step 930, water is replaced with alcohol and then with CO2. In step 940, CO2 is supevcritically removed. Finally, in step 950, the gel is pyrolyzed by heating it to between about 400 and 1000° C. in an inert atmosphere.
In some embodiments, pyrolysis is used with resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) aerogels in order to remove atoms other than carbon, and the remaining carbon is either amorphous (at lower temperatures) or forms small graphitic clusters (at higher temperatures).
During pyrolysis, PVA loses mass between 300 and 500° C., and at this point it is composed almost entirely of carbon atoms. This process by itself can substantially increase the conductivity of the reinforced CNT aerogel, because the amorphous carbon framework, though still not highly conductive itself; is smaller than the PVA and thus the CNTs will be closer together and thus more likely to form a conductive link. RF aerogels, however, need heating to around 800° C. to become highly conductive, because at this temperature most of the carbon converts to graphite-like bonding configurations (i.e. sp2 rather than sp3). In some embodiments, the gls may have to be heated as high as about 800° C. to reap the full conductivity benefits.
The above-described gels may be used to support free standing membranes for micro-fuel cells, as well as to provide a support structure for a variety of electrochemical devices utilizing free standing membranes or membranes on porous substrates. Examples include membranes that are mixed conductors used for hydrogen production or catalytic reduction or oxidation at high temperatures.
In sum, methods and systems have been disclosed for fabricating nanostructured, electrochemically functional membranes for a wide variety of applications including without limitation gas separation, gas production, gas purification, and energy generation devices. These methods and systems allow the operational temperature in these applications to be substantially reduced, and dramatically enhance the performance of these devices.
By scaling up active membrane areas and allowing for electrochemically functional membranes to be fabricated that are nanostructured but have very large active electrochemical areas, these methods and systems significantly enhance the yield and electrochemical performance of gas separation, gas production, gas purification, and energy generation devices.
The integrated devices and structures described above are useful in a wide variety of applications, and in particular will advance low-temperature devices for portable applications.
The components, steps, features, objects, benefits and advantages that have been discussed are merely illustrative. None of them, nor the discussions relating to them, are intended to limit the scope of protection in any way. Numerous other embodiments are also contemplated, including embodiments that have fewer, additional, and/or different components, steps, features, objects, benefits and advantages. The components and steps may also be arranged and ordered differently.
Nothing that has been stated or illustrated is intended to cause a dedication of any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, or equivalent to the public. While the specification describes particular embodiments of the present disclosure, those of ordinary skill can devise variations of the present disclosure without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed in the disclosure.
While certain embodiments have been described of systems and methods relating to nanostructured membranes for use in gas production, gas purification, gas separation, and energy generation devices, it is to be understood that the concepts implicit in these embodiments may be used in other embodiments as well. In the present disclosure, reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various embodiments described throughout this disclosure, known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art, are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Claims
1. A system comprising:
- an electrochemically functional membrane; and
- a support structure constructed and arranged so as to support the membrane while leaving within the membrane a chemically active area having an area utilization of at least about 50%;
- wherein the support structure comprises at least one of:
- a plurality of grids that are sized and shaped so as to reduce the contact area between the grids and the membrane to less than about 40%; and
- one or more aerogels.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is one of:
- a gas separation system; a gas production system; a gas purification system; and
- an energy generation system.
3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a substrate, and an electrode layer deposited on each side of the membrane.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the grids comprise plated metallic grids, and wherein the energy generation system comprises an SOFC.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the grids are constructed by:
- depositing the membrane and a cathode layer on a substrate;
- etching metallic grids by DC-sputtering on the surface of the cathode layer; and
- forming a back-side pattern by reactive ion etching and wet etching of the substrate.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the grids comprise nickel and have a line width of about 5-10 μm and a pitch of 25-50 μm; and wherein the membrane is a LSCF/yttrium-stabilized zirconium/platinum membrane having a thickness of about 200 μm.
7. The system of claim 4, wherein shapes of the grids comprise one of: a hexagon; and a circle.
8. The system of claim 4, wherein the grids comprise Pt or Ag, and have a thickness of about 1 micrometers.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the membrane is a 8 mol % yttrium doped zirconium membrane having a thickness of about 50 to about 150 nm, and wherein the area utilization of the membrane is more than 85%.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the aerogels comprise a silica aerogel reinforced with carbon fibers.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the silica aerogel is created in flow channels etched into the underside of a silicon chip bonded to the top of the membrane.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the aerogels comprise a PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)-reinforced CNT (carbon nanotube) aerogel having a conductivity that is increased by pyrolysis.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the PVA-reinforced CNT aerogel is fabricated by:
- suspending CNTs in water to form a gel;
- performing PVA infiltration by covering the gel with a water/PVA solution;
- replacing the water with alcohol and then with CO2;
- super critically removing the CO2; and
- pyrolyzing the gel by heating it to a temperature between about 400 and 1000° C.
14. A system comprising:
- a substrate;
- an electrochemically functional membrane deposited on the substrate;
- a cathode layer deposited on the membrane; and
- a plurality of supporting grids etched on the surface of the cathode layer according to a grid pattern;
- wherein the grids are shaped and sized so as to support the membrane while reducing the contact area between the grids and the membrane to less than about 15%, thereby leaving within the membrane a chemically active area having an area utilization of at least about 60%.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the grid pattern ends outside the active area of the membrane so that current collected in the grid can flow down to the substrate.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the substrate is a Si substrate coated with an insulating layer; and wherein the insulating layer is patterned with the grid pattern.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of grids comprise a current collector grid etched on the patterned insulating layer.
18. The system of claim 14, wherein the membrane is a nanostructured electrolyte membrane comprising yttrium doped zirconia; and wherein the cathode layer comprises LSCF.
19. The system of claim 14, wherein the substrate has a back-side pattern etched thereon by reactive ion etching and wet etching.
20. The system of claim 14, wherein the grids comprise one of: a metal, and a semiconductor material; and wherein the shapes of the grids comprise one of: a hexagon; and a circle.
21. A method of fabricating grids for supporting an electrochemically functional membrane in a device, the method comprising:
- depositing a layer of the electrochemically functional membrane on a silicon wafer that is coated both sides with silicon nitride;
- sputtering a layer of metal onto the surface of the wafer, and patterning the layer of matter into a grid pattern using photolithography;
- patterning the nitride from the back side, and etching the wafer through; and
- removing the silicon nitride from the back side of the wafer,
- wherein the grid pattern shapes a plurality of grids so as to decrease the contact area between each grid and the membrane to less than about 40% of the total area of the membrane.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the grid comprises a current collector grid for the device.
23. A method of increasing the active area of an electrochemically functional membrane, the method comprising:
- depositing the membrane on a substrate;
- covering the membrane with a high porosity material; and
- removing the substrate.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein the high porosity material comprises silica aerogel reinforced with carbon fibers.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the aerogel is created in flow channels etched into the underside of a silicon chip bonded to the top of the membrane.
26. A method of fabricating a PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) reinforced CNT (carbon nanotube) aerogel for supporting an electrochemically functional membrane in a system, the method comprising:
- suspending CNTs in water to form a gel;
- performing PVA infiltration by covering the gel with a water/PVA solution;
- replacing the water with alcohol and then with CO2;
- super critically removing the CO2; and
- pyrolyzing the gel by heating it to a temperature between about 400 and 1000° C.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 31, 2011
Publication Date: Oct 3, 2013
Applicant: PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE (Cambridge, MA)
Inventors: Shriram Ramanathan (Acton, MA), Daniel V. Harburg (Brookline, MA), Masaru Tsuchiya (Brookline, MA), Alexander C. Johnson (San Francisco, CA)
Application Number: 13/819,369
International Classification: C25B 13/02 (20060101);