Performance of LSCF cathodes in cell tests

SOFC development at Forschungszentrum Jülich is aiming at high power density and high durability to achieve cost reduction in manufacturing and installation. For higher power density, the work on materials development has been focused on improving the cathode performance using perovskites based on (La,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3−δ (LSCF). Materials screening and preliminary investigations were carried out with 5 cm × 5 cm cells. SOFCs with La0.58Sr0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 cathodes have successfully been developed giving reproducibly a power output of 1.2 W cm−2 at 800 °C and 0.7 V with hydrogen as fuel gas. Long-term cell tests lasting up to 3000 h revealed a degradation of the cells between 0.5 and 1.5%/1000 h of operation. This loss in performance is higher than for conventional cathodes based on (La,Sr)MnO3 (LSM) and under further investigation to find the reason for the performance losses.