Electrical Conductivity of LSM—YSZ Oxygen Electrode for Determining Active Electrode Zone in Solid Oxide Cells
Authors: Budac Daniel , Carda Michal , Paidar Martin , Bouzek Karel 
Published: July 2022

Solid oxide cells (SOCs) show high potential in applications related to sustainable society. The substantial contribution of the SOCs is their high efficiency in terms of the electric energy utilization due to the operating temperature up to 800 °C. The effect of high operation temperature is favorable in two ways. Firstly, it accelerates the kinetics of electrochemical reactions preventing the need of the use of Pt-based catalysts. Secondly, the high temperature offers favorable thermodynamic conditions decreasing the equilibrium potential for water splitting. This makes the SOCs technology a direct competitor to low-temperature technologies, such as alkaline or PEM electrolysis.

The SOCs are composed of electrolyte, fuel electrode and oxygen electrode. The electrolyte allows transport of oxygen ions between the electrodes due to its high ionic conductivity. Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) represents a typical example of such a material. The oxygen electrode is where the oxygen reduction reaction or the oxygen evolution reaction takes place according to the operation mode of the SOC. Lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) has been the state-of-the-art oxygen electrode material for almost 25 years and is considered as a pure electron conductor. Lack of ionic conductivity of the LSM leads to limitation of the overall reaction rate to the amount of triple phase boundary (TPB) where gaseous phase, electron-conducting phase and ion-conducting are in simultaneous contact. According to the literature it is optimal for the electrode material to be mixed in the 50:50 ratio with YSZ to increase the amount of the TPB. Thus, the active zone is extended further from the electrolyte surface into the volume of the electrode body. Even though the mixed electrode material exhibits great performance, information on the optimal thickness of the electrode is scarce in the literature. The electrode thickness is a crucial parameter since not all of the electrode volume is electrochemically active and represents just surplus resistance for the electric current impairing the overall electrode performance. The goal of our research is to determine of the extent of the active zone that we can estimate the optimal thickness of the LSM—YSZ electrode for various operation conditions.

A macrohomogenous 1D model was developed to simulate the active electrode zone extent. Initial parametric study has shown that the extent of the active region of the electrode is influenced by many factors including the kinetics of the occurring reactions, the ionic and electronic conductivity of the respective domains and working conditions, such as temperature and operating current density. Even though the literature offers data on the conductivity of bulk the LSM and YSZ, the data of the respective conductivities in the LSM—YSZ are not applicable due to the electrode structure. The conductivity of the structure consisting of packed particles with a small contact area is limited by the contact resistance. This study targets to determine the electronic conductivity of the LSM phase and the ionic conductivity of the YSZ phase in the LSM—YSZ electrode framework.

The LSM conductivity in the electrode framework was determined by resistance measurement of the casted layers of the LSM—YSZ using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show an exponential decrease of the LSM conductivity with decreasing LSM content. Furthermore, the 50:50 LSM—YSZ exhibits conductivity comparable to that of the bulk YSZ electrolyte. This result proves that the energy losses due to the electrical resistance of the LSM—YSZ electrode cannot be neglected in the terms of SOC performance.

The determination of the ionic conductivity of YSZ in the electrode framework required the substitution of LSM with an inert material. The material of choice was CaSO4 due to its availability and its melting point being relatively close to that of the LSM. Similarly to the LSM, YSZ exhibited an exponential decrease of ionic conductivity with a decrease in YSZ volume fraction in the samples. Furthermore, the trend was compared to the Koh-Fortini relationship, showing that grain boundaries have a strong influence on the total conductivity of the material.

The results of the experiments helped us to determine the extent of the active electrode zone leading to the estimation of optimal thickness of the LSM—YSZ oxygen electrode thickness.

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR), contract No: 19-142-44-J and by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic under project no. TK04030143.