Symmetric cell configuration is commonly used for the study of reaction mechanism and kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and/or oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of solid oxide cells (SOCs) to avoid the issues associated with the possible inaccuracy and errors of the reference electrode in three-electrode cell configuration. The electrode impedance behavior and reaction parameters such as electrode polarization resistance are taken as half of the measured overall value of the cell, based on the assumption that the oxygen reaction measured on the symmetric electrodes is completely reversible. However, the applicability of symmetric cell configuration for such mechanistic studies of oxygen reaction has never been verified with respect to the electrode materials. In this paper, the reversibility of symmetric cell configuration is investigated on model electrodes of platinum (Pt), La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ (LSM) and La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O₃ (LSCF) using a three-electrode configuration. The results indicate the reversibility of ORR at working electrode and OER at counter electrode depends strongly on the reversibility of the electrode/electrolyte interface for the oxygen incorporation/exsolution process, which in turn is closely related to the oxygen ionic conductivity of the electrode and in less extent to the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte. Therefore, LSCF electrode shows a much high degree of reversibility as compared to LSM, while for the reaction on Pt electrode, the oxygen reaction is essentially not reversible. This study clearly indicates that the applicability of the symmetric cell configuration for the mechanistic study of electrode reactions in SOCs is closely related to the reversibility in the molecular level (the individual reaction steps) as well as the interface level (the regions where the individual reaction steps occur).

对称电池配置通常用于研究固体氧化物电池（SOC）的氧还原反应（ORR）和/或氧释放反应（OER）的反应机理和动力学，以避免与可能的不准确性和错误有关的问题三电极电池配置中的参考电极。基于在对称电极上测得的氧反应是完全可逆的假设，将电极阻抗行为和反应参数（例如电极极化电阻）作为电池测得总值的一半。然而，关于电极材料，尚未验证对称电池构型在氧反应的这种机理研究中的适用性。在本文中，_0.8 Sr _0.2 MnO ₃（LSM）和La _0.6 Sr _0.4 Co _0.2 Fe _0.8 O ₃（LSCF）使用三电极配置。结果表明，工作电极上ORR的可逆性和对电极上OER的可逆性在很大程度上取决于氧/引入过程中电极/电解质界面的可逆性，而可逆性又与电极的氧离子电导率密切相关。电解质的离子电导率较小。因此，与LSM相比，LSCF电极显示出很高的可逆性，而对于在Pt电极上的反应，氧反应基本上是不可逆的。