Noriko Sata

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is one of the most promising candidates for green hydrogen production needed for the de‐fossilization of the global economy. As AEMWE can operate at high efficiency without expensive Platinum Group Metal (PGM) catalysts or titanium cell components, required in state‐of‐the‐art proton exchange membr...

Protonic ceramic cells (PCCs) offer variety of potential applications for electrochemical energy conversion, however a lot of challenges remain in the development of PCCs for industrial scale manufacturing processes. As it was successfully demonstrated for the solid oxide cells, metal supported architecture is a good alternative for PCCs with many...

Proton conducting ceramic fuel cell and electrolyzer are nascent technologies. The operating temperature of about 600°C calls for the development of specific oxygen electrodes with adequate catalytic activity and stability...

Technological development of proton conducting ceramic cell (PCC) manufacturing is in progress. Both high electrochemical performance and robustness in long term operation are crucial for practical devices. The metal-supported (MS) architecture is one of the promising alternatives to the state-of-the-art ceramic supported SOCs, due to its high tole...

In a context of climate change, the need for more carbon efficient technologies for energy storage and energy efficiency is pressing. Owing to high temperature operation and fast electrode kinetics reaction Solid Oxide Cells (SOC) present the unique feature, to be capable of reversible operation, meaning fuel cell mode and electrolysis mode. While...

The penetration of fuel cells and electrolyzers in energy systems calls for their scale-up to the gigawatt (GW) level. High temperature solid oxide cells (SOC) offer unrivaled efficiencies in both electrolysis and fuel cell operation. However, they are made of ceramics and are brittle by nature. Consequently, a high mechanical strength to avoid fai...

The high potential of Proton Conducting Ceramics (PCC) in fuel cell, steam electrolysis, and many other electrochemical applications has been demonstrated to achieve promising performances in the last decade. In the ceramic electrode supported cells, the refractory nature of state-of-the-art PCC electrolyte, e.g. trivalent cation doped BaZrO3-BaCeO...

To minimize alteration of the La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF)/Gd0.2Ce0.8O2-δ(CGO20)/Y0.06Zr0.94O2-δ(3YSZ) interface via strontium zirconate formation in solid oxide cells, electron beam physical vapor deposition was employed to manufacture dense, thin gadolinium-doped ceria (CGO) interlayers. CGO layers with thicknesses of 0.15, 0.3, and 0.5 μm wer...

High temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is regarded as a unique electrochemical device to convert the chemical energy of a large diversity of fuels into electricity and heat with high efficiency and low emission. The electrolyte-supported cell (ESC) design is proven to be one of the most feasible SOFC technologies for commercial applications....

Reliability, long-term stability, lower cost as well as high performance are essential for Solid Oxide Cells (SOC) in fuel-cell and electrolysis applications. Metal-Supported (MS) architecture offers various advantages over state-of-the-art ceramic supported SOCs, such as high tolerance towards thermal/redox cycling that are key features for flexib...

Solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells (SOC) have been comprehensively developed as energy conversion and storage devices in recent years. Compared with oxygen ion conducting SOC, proton-conducting ceramic (PCC) cells are more suitable for the operation in the temperature range of 450~650 o C. The reduced operating temperature makes it espec...

Manufacturing of metal supported proton conducting ceramic cells is investigated in the present study. A low temperature fabrication route was chosen to avoid metal corrosion during the fabrication process, in which pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was employed to apply the thin-film BaZr0.7Ce0.2Y0.1O3-δ electrolyte layer. The surface condition of the...

Metal-Supported (MS) architecture offers various advantages over state-of-the-art ceramic supported SOCs, such as high tolerance towards thermal/redox cycling that are key features for flexible and reliable operation in high temperature fuel cell and electrolysis applications. Our target is to develop Proton-conducting Ceramic Cells (PCC) in MS arc...

In this work, dense gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) thin-films with thickness of 0.15 and 0.5 µm were fabricated on 90 µm thick 3YSZ electrolytes by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD), and integrated into electrolyte supported solid oxide cells (ESC) as Sr-barrier layer. Operated at 860°C, the ESC with 0.5 µm GDC thin-film outperformed t...

Reliability, long-term stability, lower cost as well as high performance are essential for Solid Oxide Cells (SOC) in fuel-cell and electrolysis applications. Metal-Supported (MS) architecture offers various advantages over state-of-the-art ceramic supported SOCs, such as high tolerance towards thermal/redox cycling that are key features for flexib...

Ni‐doped chromite anodes were integrated into electrolyte‐supported cells (ESC) with 5×5 cm² size and investigated in fuel cell mode with H2/H2O fuel gas. Both a stoichiometric and a nominally A‐site deficient chromite anode material showed promising performance at 860 °C approaching the ones of state‐of‐the‐art Ni/Gd‐doped ceria (CGO) anodes. Whil...

A -site deficient lanthanum strontium chromite perovskite La 0.65 Sr 0.3 Cr 0.85 Ni 0.15 O 3-δ (L65SCrN) decorated by in situ exsolution of Ni nanoparticles was synthesized and implemented as fuel electrode on a 5 cm x 5 cm...

Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is the most promising technology for sustainable hydrogen production. However, it has been too expensive to compete with current state-of-the-art technologies due to the high cost of titanium bipolar plates (BPPs) and porous transport layers (PTLs). Here, we report a high-performance, durable...

Proton conducting ceramics (PCC) cells are promising energy conversion devices that enable high efficiency energy conversion at lower temperature range, solving the challenge of conventional solid oxide cells (SOCs) due to the high operating temperature. Electrochemical performance and chemical stability of PCC electrolyte has been investigated in...

Proton conducting ceramics (PCC) cells are promising energy conversion devices that enable high efficiency energy conversion at lower temperature range, solving the challenge of conventional solid oxide cells (SOCs) due to the high operating temperature. Electrochemical performance and chemical stability of PCC electrolyte has been investigated in...

Electrochemical energy conversion from renewable resources offers promising routes to alternative energy resources, as well as to significant reduction of CO2 emission. For their functionality at high temperatures and high stability of the components, solid oxide cells (SOC) demonstrate many potential applications, e.g. fuel cells and Power-to-X (P...

In this work, we focused on the lanthanum strontium chromite (LSC) matrix with the purpose to partially substitute the B-site with an electrocatalytic reducible transition metal that could be exsolved in situ. Therefore, nickel was considered at a substitution level of 15%. In addition, an A-site deficiency was formulated in order to enhance the ex...

Proton Conducting Ceramics (PCCs) enable a variety of potential applications, such as hydration or dehydration of chemicals in addition to fuel cells and electrolysers. Here we demonstrate the development of PCCs in the third-generation architecture, i.e. porous Metal Supported (MS) cells, performed in the project DAICHI based on the expertize of M...

In order to prevent detrimental reaction during manufacturing and enable the use of high performing La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-a (LSCF) cathode in electrolyte supported solid oxide cells, Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-a (GDC) barrier layer is implemented between the cathode and the electrolyte. It is of great interest to manufacture thin and dense GDC layer at low temp...

Protonic ceramic cells (PCC) have many prospective applications in electrochemical energy conversion technologies. The promising state-of-the-art protonic ceramic electrolytes, e.g. BaZrCeO3-based perovskites has a high refractory nature which makes it difficult to develop robust electrochemical cells with high mechanical strength in a conventional...

In this work, we focused on the lanthanum strontium chromite (LSC) matrix with the purpose to partially substitute the B-site with an electrocatalytic reducible transition metal that could be exsolved in situ. Therefore, nickel was considered at a substitution level of 15%. In addition, an A-site deficiency was formulated in order to enhance the ex...

The efficient utilization of CO2 and its conversion into CO has received great interest since it is considered a suitable path for decarbonisation of human activity and a promising climate protection measure. Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOECs) offer a single step conversion by electrolysing simultaneously H2O and CO2 to obtain syngas (H2 + CO)....

High temperature fuel cells and electrolysis cells belong to the key technologies for the energy transition. As proton conducting materials, doped barium zirconate are applied as electrolyte materials for solid oxide cells (SOCs) in the process of hydrogenation or dehydrogenation of gases at temperatures up to 600 °C. Nowadays, PCC technology still...

Electrochemical cells based on proton conducting ceramics (PCC) offer a number of potential electrochemical applications. Since proton is the ionic charge carrier, they are utilized in electrochemical devices in which hydrogen or hydrogen containing molecules are the main resources or products. It should also be noted that moderate operating temper...

In the context of growing CO 2 emissions, the need of more efficient low carbon technologies for energy storage and energy efficiency is pressing. Owing to their unique characteristics, ceramic based solid oxide cells present the valuable feature to be able of operating in fuel cell and electrolyzer mode. If the latter allows primarily efficient co...

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) is widely acknowledged for a highly efficient energy conversion and fuel flexibility. The variety of potential applications of SOFC should also be remarked, e.g. reversible operation for steam electrolysis producing hydrogen from steam and electricity. Cost effectiveness and high energy conversion efficiency of SOFCs ar...

In the context of the energy transition, high temperature fuel cells and electrolysis cells are considered as a key technology for the future. As a replacement for oxygen ion conducting ceramics in solid oxide cells (SOC), high temperature proton conducting ceramics (HTPC) operating up to 600 °C change the paradigm by offering the possibility to pe...

Hydrogen produced by water electrolysis is a promising storage medium for renewables. Reducing capital cost of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers without losing efficiency is one of its most pressing challenges. Gas diffusion layers (GDL), such as felts, foams, meshes and sintered plates, are key stack components, yet these are either ine...

MgAl2O4 coatings, used for electrical insulation along the metallic seals in high temperature fuel cell stacks, tend to fail prematurely due to generated stresses during on-off thermal cycles. To enhance stress bearing capability and the durability of these coatings, self-healing was investigated by introducing additives consisting of SiC as primar...

MgAl2O4 coatings, used for electrical insulation along the metallic seals in high temperature fuel cell stacks, tend to fail prematurely due to generated stresses during on-off thermal cycles. To enhance stress bearing capability and the durability of these coatings, self-healing was investigated by introducing additives consisting of SiC as primar...

The current paper reports self-healing plasma sprayed Mgspinel (MgAl2O4) coatings. The coatings were used for electrical insulation in high temperature fuel cells. A range of potential self-healing additives consisting of SiC+X (where X was BaO, CaO, ZnO, Y2O3, GeO2, Ta2O5, V2O5) were characterized and SiC+Y2O3 was initially selected for coating de...

Crystallization process in non-heating pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and the following post-annealing route for perovskite oxide thin film fabrication has been studied. Remarkable influence of sputtering rate on crystallization temperatures is demonstrated for BaZrO3 and SrZrO3 thin films in this process. Crystalline nuclei formation occurs randoml...

The proton species is considered peculiar, thanks to its very small size that lies between the electron and the smallest primary Li+ion. Consequently, the physics and chemistry of protons-and of materials containing protons-are unique and are commonly named “protonics” for being present between the electronics and ionics domain frontiers [1]. At pr...

The role of atomic oxygen irradiation in the epitaxial crystallization of yttrium-doped barium zirconate thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was investigated. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy revealed that, for films deposited without irradiation, random nucleation and growth occurred below the onset tempera...

Proton transport properties of a partially protonated poly(aspartic acid)/sodium polyaspartate (P-Asp) were investigated. A remarkable enhancement of proton conductivity has been achieved in the thin film. Proton conductivity of 60-nm-thick thin film prepared on MgO(100) substrate was 3.4 × 10(-3) S cm(-1) at 298 K. The electrical conductivity of t...

Stress, temperature and dopant concentration dependences of Raman spectra were measured in rare-earth-doped ceria. By the results, the accuracy of stress conditions evaluation method in operating solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with micro Raman scattering spectroscopy was improved. The shift of ceria F 2g vibration mode Raman peak was evaluated in t...

We studied the relation between the Raman peak shift of the ceria F2g peak and isostatic pressure in rare-earth-doped ceria, which is used as interlayer in anode-supported SOFCs, to evaluate the stress in operational anode-supported SOFCs. First, 10 and 20 mol% Sm- and Gd-doped ceria, and pure ceria were isostatically compressed up to 10 GPa in a d...

Creep properties of strontium doped lanthanum manganite (LSM) were studied in SOFC operating conditions, i.e. in the temperature range of 800°C to 1050°C and in air and argon gas environment. Although the difference of atmosphere did not affect creep properties, temperature and applied stress dependence of steady-state creep rate changed around 900...

Mechanical properties of Ni-YSZ cermet (Ni 30, 44, 58 vol.%) in SOFC operating conditions in the temperature range of room temperature to 1000 °C and in reduction atmospheres, were studied by an in situ four points bending method. Ni30 specimens in the whole testing temperature and Ni44, Ni58 specimens at the temperature lower than 350 °C fractured...

Photocurable electrolytes were prepared by mixing proton-conductive polymer sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK), cross-linking monomer divinyl sulfone (DVS), photoinitiator phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphineoxide (PI), dimethylacetamide (DMA), and ethanol. To investigate the proton transport property, a series of photocurable electr...

We measure the stress?strain curves of the Ni-YSZ cermets, which reduced from NiO-8YSZ composites (60:40wt%) with 30% porosity and under 5% porosity, using the in-situ four points bending instrument in SOFC operating conditions. In reduction atmospheres, the s-s curves clearly change from elastic behavior to ductile behavior at the temperatures ove...

We invented the new evaluation method of stress conditions in operated SOFC. It's based on the observation of lattice conditions by in-situ Raman scattering spectroscopy. The Raman scattering spectra were measured using a Raman system with Ar ion laser (λ=488nm). In order to measure the Raman spectra in operating conditions, we used a glass chamber...

Proton concentration as a function of ambient temperature in 15mol% Y-doped BaZrO3 proton conductors prepared at 1800°C, 1600°C and 1400°C, is measured by thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis. TG analysis reveals that the maximum proton concentration in the specimen prepared at 1400°C is over 15mol%. The value is over the limitation decided by hydratio...

Micro-solid oxide fuel cells (Micro-SOFCs) with yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BZY) and strontium and cobalt-doped lanthanum scandate (LSScCo) electrolytes were fabricated for low-temperature operation at 300 °C. The micro-SOFC with a BZY electrolyte could operate at 300 °C with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.08 V and a maximum power density o...

We have developed a method for evaluating stress conditions in operated SOFCs based on in-situ Raman scattering spectroscopy. This method uses F-2g vibration mode of CeO2 in interlayer of anode supported type SOFC as a probe, and we can calculate stress in an interlayer, i.e. stress in an electrolyte from the shift of a Raman peak. We apply this me...

The spectral properties of thermal radiation can be controlled by surface microstructures with feature size in the optical wavelength range. We applied this technology to solar selective absorbers for concentrated solar power (CSP) generation systems. We investigated the spectral properties and thermal stability of two-dimensional periodic microstr...

Migration of protons dissolved in acceptor doped SrZrO3, SrCeO3 and BaCeO3 oxides has been examined under an applied electric potential over a range of temperature from 25 to 220 °C. Protons which dissolved in these oxides migrated to the cathode, and they were trapped there when the cathode material had a good ability to getter the migrating hydro...

Proton transport properties across the grain boundary of barium zirconate based proton conductors were studied in accordance with the space charge concept. The analysis is performed at temperatures lower than 200 °C using a Mott-Schottky model. The barrier height of Y- and Gd-doped barium zirconate is in the range of 0.29 to 0.57 V, which higher th...

Poly(aspartic acid) and its thin film were synthesized to study proton transport properties. The average degree of polymerization and molecular weight are 50 and 7000, respectively. The proton conductivities of the Poly(aspartic acid) and its thin film were 4.3×10−4 and 5.1×10−3 S cm−1, respectively under the relative humidity of 70% and 298 K. The...

The electronic structure near the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band for Sr-doped LaScO3 single crystal was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The conduction band consists mainly of the Sc 3d state hybridized with the O 2p state. A defect-induced localized level is observed below the Sc 3d state of the S...

An electrolyte supported type intermediate temperature operating SOFC (IT-SOFC) using 15mol% Y-doped BaZrO3 (BZY15) is fabricated and tested in the temperature range of 650oC to 550oC to study fundamental properties of an IT-SOFC using proton conductors. The measurement of I-V characteristics and impedance spectra reveal that BZY15 is superior to o...

Gallium and yttrium co-doped BaZrO3 based proton conductors sintered at 1600oC, in which total dopant concentration is fixed at 15mol%, are fabricated using the conventional solid state reaction method. Ga concentration dependence on sinterability and electrical properties is evaluated. Lattice parameter a, relative density and grain size show loca...

An enhancement in proton conductivity for poly(aspartic acid)/sodium polyaspartate (P-Asp) by synthesizing thin film on MgO substrate was investigated. The average degrees of polymerization and molecular weight were ̃70 and ̃9400, respectively. The degree of protonation in the carboxylic acid groups was 10 %. The proton conductivities of the pellet...