Computational engineering of the oxygen electrode-electrolyte interface in solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract The Ce 0.8 Gd 0.2 O 2− δ (CGO) interlayer is commonly applied in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to prevent chemical reactions between the (La 1− x Sr )(Co y Fe )O 3− (LSCF) oxygen electrode and Y 2 3 -stabilized ZrO (YSZ) electrolyte. However, formation of YSZ–CGO solution with low ionic conductivity SrZrO (SZO) insulating phase still happens during cell production long-term operation, causing poor performance degradation. Unlike many experimental investigations exploring these phenomena, consistent quantitative computational modeling microstructure evolution at electrode–electrolyte interface scarce. We combine thermodynamic, 1D kinetic, 3D phase-field computationally reproduce element redistribution, evolution, corresponding ohmic loss this interface. influences different ceramic processing techniques for CGO interlayer, i.e., screen printing physical laser deposition (PLD), operating parameters are explored, representing a successful case engineering SOFCs.