Improvement of Cell Performance and Stability by Optimizing Microstructure of Cathode Contact Materials for Planar-Type SOFC

The cell testing was performed to investigate the performance and degradation of single cell stack that is related to the cathode contact materials of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Two different particle size of perovskite LCN (LaCo0.6Ni0.4O3-δ) were used as cathode current collectors. When compared with the thin LCN powders, the coarse powders showed that the materials are appropriate for long-term stability of cell, whereby the cell exhibited almost undetectable degradation over 100h. The degradation mechanism has been further investigated on the electrical contact between cathode current collection/metallic interconnect. The microstructure stability of LCN powder was proved to play critical roles in depressing degradation of SOFC stack.