Oxygen vacancy induced carbon deposition at the triple phase boundary of the nickel/yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) interface

It is found that the CH fragment can easily diffuse and be trapped at interface O vacancy site. The trapped CH can dissociate to C and H atoms with lower dissociation barrier (0.74 eV) as compared as that (1.39 eV) on the pure Ni (111) surface. Therefore the interface oxygen vacancy may induce the formation of carbon deposition at the TPB of the Ni/YSZ anode.