Characterization of Metallic Interconnects Extracted from Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stacks Operated up to 20,000 h in Real Life Conditions: The Air Side

Giorgia Ghiara, Paolo Piccardo, Valeria Bongiorno, Christian Geipel and Roberto Spotorno
Additional contact information
Giorgia Ghiara: Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, 16146 Genova, Italy
Paolo Piccardo: Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, 16146 Genova, Italy
Valeria Bongiorno: Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, 16146 Genova, Italy
Christian Geipel: Sunfire GmbH, Gasanstaltstraße 2, 01237 Dresden, Germany
Roberto Spotorno: Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), University of Genoa, Via Dodecaneso 31, 16146 Genova, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: Metallic interconnects represent the main component of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack in terms of weight and volume. They are typically made of ferritic stainless steel (FSS) coated on the air side. At the stack operating conditions, the interconnect is exposed to a dual atmosphere: air at the cathode side; fuel (a hydrogen-rich mixture) at the anode side. The stacks considered in this study were field operated in reformed natural gas for 5000, 9000 and 20,000 h respectively. The analyzed interconnects are made from CROFER22APU and coated on the air side with Co-Mn base spinel. One interconnect has been studied for each stack by sampling and preparing cross section the inlet and outlet positions. The samples were characterized by SEM-EDXS in order to investigate the evolution of the interconnect at the air side. The interaction between the metal substrate and the coating is investigated highlighting the formation of chromia based thermal grown oxide (at the FSS/coating interface) and the solid-state diffusion of Cr and Fe from the metal into the coating. The microstructural features evolving as a function of time are also quantified.

Keywords: SOFC; interconnect; MCO; operating conditions; air side (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6487/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6487/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:24:p:6487-:d:458707

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().