On the Possibility of Improving the Oxidation Resistance of High-Chromium Ferritic Stainless Steel Using Reactive Element Oxide Nanoparticles

High-chromium ferritic steels are current the only viable candidates for cheap interconnect materials for application in high-temperature solid oxide fuel and electrolyzer cells (HT-SOFCs/SOECs). The durability and operating characteristics of interconnects manufactured using these materials may be improved significantly by applying a protective-conducting MoCo2O4 coating and depositing an intermediate layer consisting of nanoparticles of Gd2O3—a reactive element oxide—on the surface of the steel substrate. The study demonstrated that the conditions of the thermal treatment of this layered system determine the efficacy of the applied modification with the reactive element. The persistence of this effect was tested over 7000 hours of quasi-isothermal oxidation in air at 800 °C.