Degradation of solid oxide cells during co-electrolysis of steam and carbon dioxide at high current densities

In this work, the durability of Ni-YSZ based solid oxide cells was investigated during co-electrolysis of steam and carbon dioxide (45% H2O + 45% CO2 + 10% H2) at current density of −1.5 or −2.0 A cm−2. The cell consists of ∼300 μm Ni-YSZ support, ∼10 μm Ni-YSZ electrode, ∼10 μm YSZ electrolyte and ∼15 μm LSM-YSZ oxygen electrode. The gas conversion was 45% at −1.5 A cm−2 and 60% at −2.0 A cm−2, and the operating durations were up to 700 h. The detailed electrochemical analysis revealed significant increase of the ohmic resistance, oxide ion transport resistance in the Ni-YSZ composite electrodes and the electrochemical reaction resistance at the Ni-YSZ triple-phase boundaries. The performance degradation is mainly ascribed to the microstructural change in the Ni-YSZ electrode close to the YSZ electrolyte, including the percolation loss of Ni, the contact loss between Ni and YSZ electrolyte and the decomposition of YSZ close to Ni-YSZ|YSZ interface. The electrochemical performance and the microstructure of the oxygen electrode were found to be relatively stable.