High temperature steam (H₂O) electrolysis via a solid oxide electrolysis cell is an efficient way to produce hydrogen (H₂) because of its high energy conversion efficiency as well as simple and green process, especially when the electrolysis process is combined with integrated gasification fuel cell technology or derived by renewable energy. However, about 60%–70% of the electricity input is consumed to overcome the large oxygen potential gradient but not for electrolysis to split H₂O to produce H₂ due to the addition of safe gas such as H₂ in the fuel electrode. In this work, Sr₂Fe_1.5Mo_0.5O_6-δ-Ce_0.8Sm_0.2O_1.95 (SFM-SDC) ceramic composite material has been developed as fuel electrode to avoid the use of safe gas, and the open circuit voltage (OCV) has been effectively lowered from 1030 to 78 mV when the feeding gas in the fuel electrode is shifted from 3%H₂O–97%H₂ to 3%H₂O–97%N₂, reasonably resulting in a significantly increased electrolysis efficiency. In addition, it is also demonstrated that the electrolysis current density is greatly enhanced by increasing the humidity in the fuel electrode and the working temperature. A considerable electrolysis current density of − 0.54 A/cm² is obtained at 800 °C and 0.4 V for the symmetrical electrolyzer by exposing SFM-SDC fuel electrode to 23%H₂O–77%N₂, and durability test at 800 °C for 35 h demonstrates a relatively stable electrochemical performance for steam electrolysis under the same operation condition without safe gas and a constant electrolysis current density of − 0.060 A/cm². Our findings achieved in this work indicate that SFM-SDC is a highly promising fuel electrode for steam electrolysis.

通过固体氧化物电解槽电解高温蒸汽（H _{2 O）是一种高效的制氢（H 2}）方式，因为其能量转换效率高，且工艺简单、绿色，特别是当电解工艺与集成工艺相结合时气化燃料电池技术或衍生自可再生能源。然而，由于在燃料电极中添加了安全气体如 H ₂ ，因此消耗了大约 60%~70% 的电力输入来克服大的氧势梯度，而不是用于电解分解 H ₂ O 产生 H _{2 。}在这项工作中，Sr ₂ Fe _1.5 Mo _0.5 O _6-δ -Ce_开发了0.8 Sm _0.2 O _1.95 (SFM-SDC)陶瓷复合材料作为燃料电极，避免使用安全气体，有效地将开路电压(OCV)从1030 mV降低到78 mV。燃料电极从 3%H ₂ O–97%H ₂转变为 3%H ₂ O–97%N ₂，合理地导致电解效率显着提高。此外，还证明了通过增加燃料电极中的湿度和工作温度可以大大提高电解电流密度。- 0.54 A/cm ^{2的相当大的电解电流密度}通过将 SFM-SDC 燃料电极暴露于 23%H ₂ O–77%N ₂中，对称电解槽在 800 °C 和 0.4 V 下获得，并且在 800 °C 下 35 h 的耐久性测试表明，蒸汽的电化学性能相对稳定在没有安全气体和恒定电解电流密度为-0.060 A/cm ²的相同操作条件下进行电解。我们在这项工作中取得的研究结果表明，SFM-SDC 是一种非常有前途的蒸汽电解燃料电极。