Computational engineering of the oxygen electrode-electrolyte interface in solid oxide fuel cells

The Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_2−δ (CGO) interlayer is commonly applied in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to prevent chemical reactions between the (La1−xSrx)(Co_1−yFe_y)O_3−δ (LSCF) oxygen electrode and the Y₂O₃-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) electrolyte. However, formation of the YSZ–CGO solid solution with low ionic conductivity and the SrZrO₃ (SZO) insulating phase still happens during cell production and long-term operation, causing poor performance and degradation. Unlike many experimental investigations exploring these phenomena, consistent and quantitative computational modeling of the microstructure evolution at the oxygen electrode–electrolyte interface is scarce. We combine thermodynamic, 1D kinetic, and 3D phase-field modeling to computationally reproduce the element redistribution, microstructure evolution, and corresponding ohmic loss of this interface. The influences of different ceramic processing techniques for the CGO interlayer, i.e., screen printing and physical laser deposition (PLD), and of different processing and long-term operating parameters are explored, representing a successful case of quantitative computational engineering of the oxygen electrode–electrolyte interface in SOFCs.