Exceptional Durability of Solid Oxide Cells

Extensive efforts to resolve the degradation normally associated with solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) have been conducted during the past decade. To date, the degradation is assumed to be caused by adsorption of impurities in the cathode, although no firm evidence for this degradation mechanism has been presented. In this article, we demonstrate that the rapid degradation of these SOECs is indeed caused by impurities, and that operation without degradation is possible when removing these impurities from the inlet gases. Cleaning the inlet gases may be a solution for operating SOECs without long-term degradation. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3455882] All rights reserved.