Investigation of LSM-YSZ Composite Cathode Performance Degradation with a Multistep Charge Transfer Model

The long-term performance degradation of LSM/YSZ composite cathodes is investigated via calibrated multiphysics simulation with amultistep oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) model and structural coarsening data from a phase field study. Multiphysics simulations, including a multistep ORR mechanism, are first developed for better understanding of the limiting processes in solid oxide fuel cells. The multistep ORR mechanism includes two parallel pathways, surface pathway and bulk pathway, which consist of elementary reaction steps. Themultiphysics model is simultaneously calibrated with experimental polarization curves and impedance behavior for various air/fuel supply conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a multistep ORR model is calibrated with such datasets. Next, the calibrated simulations are utilized to simulate a 2D half-cell constructed with measured microstructural data and random heterogeneity. Finally, the long-term performance degradation of the half-cell is predicted by the calibrated multiphysics model coupled with structural coarsening trends simulated using a phase field-based coarsening model. Degradation of both polarization curves and impedance behavior is investigated. Thorough analyses, including changes of contributions from different pathways, the resistance components, and overall reaction order, are performed to provide more insights into cathode performance degradation due to grain coarsening phenomena. (C) The Author(s) 2019. Published by ECS.