Degradation mechanisms in solid oxide electrolysis anodes

High temperature steam electrolysis is one of the most efficient processes for hydrogen generation from water with no CO2 emissions using electricity and heat from nuclear or concentrated solar plants. Solid Oxide Electrolytic Cells (SOEC) are the proposed technology being researched and developed for this purpose. Over a long period of operation of the cells, various sources for degradation in the cells’ electrochemical performance prevail, and hence the cell resistance increases and the process becomes inefficient. Our research is aimed at identifying the mechanisms for the loss in the electrochemical performance of the cell, particularly of the oxygen electrode, namely the anode.