SOFC Testing Procedure

A previous study [9] showed that reduction of the anode at 900 °C or the application of a constant current to ASCs manufactured at FZJ resulted in a high steady-state electrochemical performance, including complete ceU conditioning. In the case of reduction at 800 °C, the performance was lower and needed a longer time to reach steady-state performance. The performance was less consistent and significant scatter between data sets from individual ceUs occurred. This makes 

2 Dwell Time between Individual Current-Voltage Points 

As already pointed out, the need for standardizing SOFC measurements and QA is strongly recommended for approaching extant problems with consistency and repeatability and for rehabihty of data. The cell testing procedure and the QA system used at FZJ were developed starting in 2004. AU the aspects were entered in the QA system following the outlines of the ISO 9000 series standards, from SOFC specifications until reporting of the experimental data. It was found that only measurements performed under such specifications and with optimized experimental conditions resulted in consistent and reliable tests and measurement results. 

The author thanks all members of the Jiilich SOFC development team, the cell testing team, the FZJ metallurgical and mechanical testing group, and the FZJ central chemical laboratories, and also others from the overall FZJ SOFC team including visiting scientists, all of whom contributed in some way or another. 

Erning, J.W., Hauber, T., Stimming, U., and Wippermann, K. (1996) Catalysis of the electrochemical processes on solid oxide fuel cell cathodes. J. Power Sources, 61, 205-211. 

---

During this period, FZJ also started to develop its own standardization and QA in SOFC testing with the objective of obtaining performance measurement data of good accuracy and precision in a consistent, reliable, and repeatable manner. All aspects were systematically examined, including the physical experimental set-up, SOFC cell performance, and SOFC testing procedure. Parts of this standardization and QA are described in Section 9.2.3. AU these aspects of R D, standardization and QA finally led to excellent performance data with one type of cell resulting with a theoretical output of more than 4.4 A cm at 800 °C and 700 mV, hence more than 3 W cm . All experimental data from the tested cells were compared with each other, with the main key parameters to characterize the measured performance, the current density, and/or area specific resistance (ASR) at a defined cell output... 

---