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TEM investigation on zirconate formation and chromium poisoning in LSM/YSZ cathode

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Abstract

Cell durability is a crucial technological issue for SOFC commercialization, and considerable progress has been made in recent years. A number of degradation pathways have been established, amongst which microstructural changes, poisoning effects and formation of less conductive phases. In this study, transmission electron microscopy was used to observe submicron-scale effects on selected cathode zones of an anode supported cell tested in SOFC stack repeat element configuration. The test has been performed with a dedicated segmented test bench, at 800 °C for 1900 h, which allowed to spatially resolve degradation processes, and therefore to improve their correlation with localized post-test analysis. Evidence is presented of reaction products (mainly SrZrO3) at the LSM/YSZ interfaces as well as of contaminants, in particular Cr, but also Si. A polarized cell segment is compared to an unpolarized one, to assess any influence of cathode polarization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the European Commission (FP6 contract SES6-019875.Flame-SOFC) and the Swiss Federal Office for Energy (OFEN, AccelenT project) for financial support, and Fabienne Bobard from CIME for the TEM lamella extraction by FIB.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Centre for Electron Microscopy (CIME), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    A. Hessler-Wyser, J. A. Schuler & A. Faes

  2. Industrial Energy Systems Laboratory (LENI), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Z. Wuillemin, J. A. Schuler, A. Faes & J. Van herle

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  1. A. Hessler-Wyser
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  2. Z. Wuillemin
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  3. J. A. Schuler
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  4. A. Faes
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  5. J. Van herle
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Correspondence to A. Hessler-Wyser.

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Hessler-Wyser, A., Wuillemin, Z., Schuler, J.A. et al. TEM investigation on zirconate formation and chromium poisoning in LSM/YSZ cathode. J Mater Sci 46, 4532–4539 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-011-5347-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-011-5347-5

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