Investigation of Advanced Cathode Contacting Solutions in SOFC

Abstract

Contacting solutions for air electrode in Solid Oxide Cells stacks often implement a ceramic paste made of electronic conducting perovskite, comparable or same as the electro-active material. This contacting layer, is applied in a green state by wet-powder-spray or screen-printing, and in situ fired during stack commissioning. The low level of necking between ceramic particles causes increased ohmic losses. Moreover the shrinkage usually observed during long term operation in temperature of this layer, due to sintering effect, lead to cracks and contact losses which hinder the cell performance. Increasing cell’s footprint, performance and lifetime at the stack level requires appropriate contacting solution. In this paper we reports the investigation of a new advanced monolithic contacting solution, easy to handle, soft and flexible, highly porous and highly conductive. Two different compositions have been investigated, with respect of their compatibility with Crofer (SEM, XRD). In addition, solid oxide cells contacted with this solution as well as with a ceramic paste have also been electrochemically tested up to 1000 hours in order to compare and assess the impact of this contacting solution on cell’s performance. Results will be presented and discussed.