Chromium deposition and poisoning on Ba0.9Co0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3−δ cathode of solid oxide fuel cells

Ba0.9Co0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3−δ (BCFN), a promising cathode material for solid oxide fuel cells, demonstrates excellent activity to oxygen reduction reaction. However, under realistic operation conditions, cathode of cells often suffers from severe degradation due to the Cr deposition and poisoning from interconnects. In this work, effect of Cr deposition and poisoning on BCFN cathode has been investigated by various analysis techniques. Thereinto, temperature condition plays a significant role and BCFN demonstrate good stability at lower temperature (650 °C and 700 °C). However, polarization resistance of BCFN increases remarkably over 750 °C. According to the analysis, BaCrO4 are produced during the Cr deposition process, suppressing the oxygen reduction reaction on BCFN cathode.