Chromium poisoning is one of the primary factors that affect solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) durability. In this study, an electrochemical cleaning method has been employed to reverse the effects of chromium poisoning. Two cells were fabricated and poisoned under identical conditions by operating them at 800 °C in the presence of a Cr source. Both poisoned cells exhibited a significant reduction in maximum power density and an increase in polarization resistance. One of the poisoned cells, designated as the baseline cell, was cooled to room temperature after poisoning. Microstructural observation of the baseline cell showed significant contamination of the cathode active layer by chromium oxide and (Cr,Mn) spinel deposits. The other poisoned cell was electrochemically cleaned for 2 h under a mild electrolytic condition. As a result of the electrochemical cleaning process, the chromium oxide deposits were substantially removed leading to a significant reduction of Cr concentration in the cathode, especially at the cathode/electrolyte interface. A substantial fraction of the cell performance loss was also reversed. To the best of our knowledge, this is a first demonstration of reversing the effects of chromium poisoning using a rapid in-situ process.

铬中毒是影响固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）耐久性的主要因素之一。在这项研究中，已采用电化学清洗方法来消除铬中毒的影响。通过在铬源存在下于800°C下操作，在相同条件下制造并中毒了两个电池。两种中毒的细胞均显示出最大功率密度的显着降低和极化电阻的提高。中毒后将其中一个被称为基线细胞的中毒细胞冷却至室温。基线电池的微观结构观察表明，氧化铬和（Cr，Mn）尖晶石沉积物严重污染了阴极活性层。另一个中毒的电池在温和的电解条件下电化学清洗2小时。作为电化学清洁过程的结果，基本上除去了三氧化二铬沉积物，从而显着降低了阴极中Cr的浓度，尤其是在阴极/电解质界面处。电池性能损失的很大一部分也可以逆转。据我们所知，这是第一个通过快速逆转铬中毒影响的演示。原位过程。