Method for fabricating nanostructured solid oxide fuel cells and cell components

A method of fabricating a solid oxide fuel cell comprising:

• dispersing ceria and doped ceria nanoparticles in a first colloidal solution;
• atomizing the first colloidal solution into a spray;
• depositing the spray onto a substrate to form a thin film interfacial layer having a thickness in the range of 100 nm to 10 microns;
• and
• forming an anode from a nanocomposite of ceria and CuO at low temperature over the interfacial layer.

A method of fabricating a solid oxide fuel cell comprising:

• dispersing ceria and doped ceria nanoparticles in a first colloidal solution;
• atomizing the first colloidal solution into a spray;
• depositing the spray onto a substrate to form a thin film electrolyte;
• dispersing a nanocomposite powder including ceria and CuO in the first solution, forming a second colloidal solution;
• atomizing the second colloidal solution into a second spray;
• and
• depositing the second spray over the thin film electrolyte as an interfacial layer.

A method of making a nanocomposite of lanthanide-doped cerium dioxide and copper oxide comprising:

• mixing a first solution of cerium nitrate, a nitrate of a lanthanide series metal, and copper nitrate, with a second aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide to form a third solution;
• controlling the pH of the third solution;
• precipitating lanthanide-doped cerium dioxide particles and copper oxide particles from the third solution;
• and
• forming a nanocomposite of the lanthanide-doped cerium dioxide and the copper oxide by heating the lanthanide-doped cerium dioxide particles and the copper oxide particles at a temperature of about equal to or less than 200° C.