Reactivating the Ni-YSZ electrode in solid oxide cells and stacks by infiltration

The solid oxide cell (SOC) could play a vital role in energy storage when the share of intermittent electricity production is high. However, large-scale commercialization of the technology is still hindered by the limited lifetime. Here, we address this issue by examining the potential for repairing various failure and degradation mechanisms occurring in the fuel electrode, thereby extending the potential lifetime of a SOC system.

We successfully infiltrated the nickel and yttria-stabilized zirconia cermet electrode in commercial cells with Gd-doped ceria after operation. By this method we fully reactivated the fuel electrode after simulated reactant starvation and after carbon formation. Furthermore, by infiltrating after 900 h of operation, the degradation of the fuel electrode was reduced by a factor of two over the course of 2300 h.

Lastly, the scalability of the concept is demonstrated by reactivating an 8-cell stack based on a commercial design.