Numerical study on the inhomogeneity of the contact layer between solid oxide electrolysis cell anode and the interconnect

Although the anode-side contact layer plays a vital role in the performance improvement of solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) stacks, it is hard to prevent defect formation in the process of cell manufacture. Due to the difficulty of in situ observation, in this study, a 2D SOEC model was built to investigate the defects' impacts on the cell regarding laminar fluid flow, steady-state heat transfer, and electrochemistry. The finite element method was employed to solve the governing equations. The parameters in the calculating field in terms of gas velocity, current density, and temperature were evaluated to identify the impacts of the defects on the contact layer. This evaluation showed that numerically computed temperatures around the defects substantially differ from the main cell, which can lead to stress maldistribution and ultimately result in the delamination between the contact layer and anode.