The impedance of thin dense oxide cathodes

The impedance is derived for a dense layer electrode of a mixed conducting oxide, assuming that the electronic resistance may be ignored. The influence of layer thickness, oxygen diffusion and surface exchange rate on the ‘General Finite Length Diffusion’ expression is evaluated. The thickness dependence is tested for a series of thin, dense layer electrodes of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ (LSCF) deposited on a Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 electrolyte by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). A minimum thickness is required to avoid the influence of contact points of the contacting Pt-gauze and sheet resistance, which is about 1 μm for the studied LSCF electrodes. LEISS surface analysis indicates that PLD deposition process easily leads to a significant Cr contamination of the LSCF surface. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis indicates that the influence on the exchange rate of this Cr-contamination is still negligible.