Enhancement of the Cathode/electrolyte Interface by a Sintering-Active Barrier Layer for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

It's a critical issue for the successful commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to achieve long-term operation and thermal cycling stability without significant degradation. Current work reports an almost-dense, sintering-active and Sr-blocking cathode/electrolyte interface, fabricated through a cost-competitive and scalable method of modifying porous Gadolinia doped Ceria (GDC) barrier layer by in-situ grown GDC nanoparticles. Result show that the robust interface enables improved durability and thermal cycling stability. The hydrothermal modified anode supported cell performance only deteriorates by -0.5% after 20 times thermal cycles between 200 and 750 & DEG;C, which is more prominent enhancement than -16% for pristine cell. The modified symmetric cell shows smaller cathode polarization resistance and well-attached cathode/electrolyte interfaces after -1200 h of operation, including 4 times thermal cycles. While the pristine cell shows more obvious area specific resistances increases and the peeled-off cathode layer. It is discussed and concluded that the hydrothermal modified sintering-active barrier layer has contributed mainly to the construction of robust cathode/electrolyte interface, yielding the improved performance and prolonged operation.& COPY; 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.