Degradation Behavior of MK35x Stacks with Chromium-Based Interconnects in Steam Electrolysis Operation

The currently ongoing commercialization of high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis (SOEL) requires the understanding of the underlying dominant degradation mechanisms to enable continuous progress in reducing stack degradation rates. In the present study, the degradation behavior of stacks with chromium-based interconnects (MK35x) and electrolyte-supported cells (ESC) developed at Fraunhofer IKTS is investigated. For this purpose, the initial electrochemical performance of 10-layer stacks was extensively characterized in various operating conditions in both fuel cell and electrolysis mode by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Degradation was evaluated during galvanostatic steady-state steam electrolysis operation over >3000 h in the temperature range of 800-825°C at a current density of -0.6 A cm -2 , corresponding to a steam conversion rate of 75%. EIS analysis was used to separate the different loss contributions in the stack and showed that the ohmic resistance increase was the dominating performance degradation phenomenon. Moreover, electrochemical degradation rates in steady-state SOEL mode are compared to the ones in reversible mode with a daily cycling between electrolysis and fuel cell operation. Post-mortem analysis was carried out with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to correlate the observed degradation phenomena with microstructural and morphological changes. The observed low degradation rates demonstrate that MK35x are ready for scale-up, and the present work gives guidance for operation strategies and stack design to extend their lifetime even further.