Spatially Resolved Photoemission and Electrochemical Characterization of a Single-Chamber Solid Oxide Fuel Cell.

The present paper pinpoints the feasibility of in operando near-ambient pressure characterization of an operating single chamber solid oxide fuel cell (SC-SOFC) by means of spatially resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results are based on an innovative and unique setup expanding the capabilities of the scanning photoelectron microscopes. In particular, the impact of getting access to the low mbar range on the very observability of chemical-state changes in an LSM cathode have been highlighted. Ex situ and in situ electrochemical measurements at OCP and close circuit cell conditions complemented the photoemission mapping and spectroscopy. The latter has evidenced the evolution of the chemical state of Sr upon the exposure of the typical SC-SOFC CH4-O2 gas feed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]