YSZ Coated Ferritic Stainless Steel

The Department of Energy (DOE) desires technologies that will extend the nations energy reserves with efficient, less costly, environmentally responsible electric energy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Integrated into the nations power grid system, Solid Oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the potential to achieve this goal with high reliability. SOFC energy is generated by combining fuel and oxidant (air) gases across an oxygen-ion-conducting ceramic. Interconnects must seal chambers from each other, but these seals can experience leakage. InnoSense LLC (ISL) will solve a leakage failure mode between the existing compliant glass layer and the metal interconnects. During the proposed project, ISL will develop mass production deposition technologies using appropriate metallorganic/organometallic sol-gel coatings to produce an SOFC Steel Seal (SOFSeal) a dense, adherent, thin (~1-2 m), 8 mol% yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coating for ferritic steels, with operating temperatures of 650850 C. These coatings will serve as bonding surfaces for compliant glasses used in SOFC interconnect seals. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: ISLs SOFC Steel Seals will advance SOFCs with long lifetime reliability and the ability to be integrated into the nations power grid system. The SOFC target market includes replacement of peak demand fossil fuel burning electrical generation plants, which are responsible for an estimated 85% of the pollution output by the fossil fuel electrical generation industry. Markets include the co-generation market, backup power for buildings, hospitals, law enforcement facilities, homes, small remote facilities, auxiliary power units (APUs) for trucks, recreational vehicles, ships, and many aircraft.