Characterization of Cr Poisoning in a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode Using a High Energy X-ray Microbeam

A key feature of planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is the feasibility of using metallic interconnects made of high temperature ferritic stainless steels, which reduce system cost while providing excellent electric conductivity. Such interconnects, however, contain high levels of chromium, which has been found to be associated with SOFC cathode performance degradation at SOFC operating temperatures; a phenomenon known as Cr poisoning. Here, we demonstrate an accurate measurement of the phase and concentration distributions of Cr species in a degraded SOFC, as well as related properties including deviatoric strain, integrated porosity, and lattice parameter variation, using high energy microbeam X-ray diffraction and radiography. We unambiguously identify ( MnCr ) 3 O 4 and Cr 2 O 3 as the two main contaminant phases and find that their concentrations correlate strongly with the cathode layer composition. Cr 2 O 3 deposition within the active cathode region reduces porosity and produces compressive residual strains, which hinders the reactant gas percolation and can cause structural breakdown of the SOFC cathode. The information obtained through this study can be used to better understand the Cr-poisoning mechanism and improve SOFC design.