Mitigation of chromium poisoning of cathodes in solid oxide fuel cells employing CuMn1.8O4 spinel coating on metallic interconnect

Chromium poisoning is one of the major reasons for cathode performance degradation in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). To mitigate the effect of Cr-poisoning, a protective coating on the surface of interconnect for suppressing Cr vaporization is necessary. Among the various coating materials, Cu-Mn spinel coating is considered to be a potential candidate due to their good thermal compatibility, high stability and good electronic conductivity at high temperature. In this study, Crofer 22 H meshes with no protective coating, those with commercial CuMn2O4 spinel coating and the ones with lab-developed CuMn1.8O4 spinel coating were investigated. The lab-developed CuMn1.8O4 spinel coating were deposited on Crofer 22 H mesh by electrophoretic deposition and densified by a reduction and re-oxidation process. With these different Crofer 22 H meshes (bare, CuMn2O4-coated, and CuMn1.8O4-coated), anode-supported SOFCs with Sr-doped LaMnO3-based cathode were electrochemically tested at 800 °C for total durations of up to 288 h. Comparing the mitigating effects of the two types of Cu-Mn spinel coatings on Cr-poisoning, it was found that the performance of the denser lab-developed CuMn1.8O4 spinel coating was distinctly better, showing no degradation in the cell electrochemical performance and significantly less Cr deposition near the cathode/electrolyte interface after the test.