Mitigating Cr Contamination by Hot Air Filtering in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Cr contamination, generated by system components located upstream a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and responsible for Cr-poisoning induced air electrode performance degradation, must be suppressed by hindering the access of Cr pollutants to the cathode compartment. For this purpose, we developed an air filter, based on a (La,Sr)CoO3-coated ceramic foam, which was evaluated on its Cr-trapping potential within an SOFC system. An in-situ measurement based on a novel hot air sampling technique indicated a 7-fold decrease of the Cr contaminating level after the installation of a Cr getter filter, which should significantly extend SOFC lifetime.