| Abstract: | Moisture effect on cathode behaviors is a major issue for solid oxide fuel cells servicing under severe high temperature environments. This work studies the effect of dry air and moist air on La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM821) and La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3 (LSCF6428) cathodes at 800 °C by investigating the interfacial reaction and degradation through an AISI 441 interconnect/LSM821 (LSCF6428) electrode/yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte tri‐layer structure. Under the same processing condition, the grain size of the LSCF6428 cathode is smaller than that of the LSM821 cathode. Ohmic resistance and polarization resistance of the cathodes are analyzed by deconvoluting the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results. The LSCF6428 cathode has much smaller resistance than the LSM821 cathode. Moisture produces a larger effect on the ohmic resistance and polarization resistance of the LSM821 cathode than on those of the LSCF6428 cathode. More chromium diffuses from the interconnect to the cathode for both LSM821 and LSCF6428 electrodes thermally treated in moist air. Based on the structure, elemental distribution, and EIS analysis, the interaction mechanisms between the electrodes and the AISI 441 alloy interconnect are proposed. |
