Electrochemical Analysis of an Electrolyte-Supported Solid Oxide Cell-Based MK35x Stack during Long-Term Electrolysis Operation

Abstract The currently ongoing scale-up of high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis (SOEL) requires an understanding of the underlying dominant degradation mechanisms to enable continuous progress in increasing stack durability. In the present study, the degradation behavior of SOEL stacks of the type ‘MK35x’ with chromium-iron-yttrium (CFY) interconnects and electrolyte-supported cells (ESC) developed at Fraunhofer IKTS was investigated. For this purpose, the initial electrochemical performance of a 10-cell stack was characterized in various operating conditions in both fuel cell and electrolysis mode. Degradation was evaluated during galvanostatic steady-state steam electrolysis operation for more than 3000 h at an oxygen side outlet temperature of 816°C and a current density of -0.6 A cm-2 and showed an average voltage evolution rate of -0.3 %/kh demonstrating high stability. Initial and final characterization at the part load operating point at -0.39 A cm-2 and 800°C led to the determination of a positive overall degradation rate of 0.4 %/kh showing a considerable impact of the operating conditions on the degradation rate. By means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis it was shown that the stack’s ohmic resistance increased whereas the polarization resistance decreased most likely due to an enhancement in LSMM’/ScSZ oxygen electrode performance.