High-Temperature Electrolyzers (HTEs) are currently being developed at the CEA for the production of “green” hydrogen. One of the components, the stainless-steel interconnect, is affected by two phenomena that progressively reduce cell efficiency: surface oxidation and chromium oxide volatilization. For these reasons, protective coatings are being developed at the CEA and with industrial partners. The performance of these samples (oxidation behavior, electrical resistance, etc.) must be evaluated both in contact with air, in contact with an H2/H2O mixture, and under dual-atmosphere conditions with the two environments on either side of the sample.
The proposed postdoctoral position includes several missions presented below:
• Development of an experimental setup to evaluate the oxidation behavior and area-specific resistance of coated and uncoated samples under all environmental conditions.
• Investigation of the observed phenomena using the many characterization techniques available at the CEA (SEM, Raman microscopy, TEM, GD-OES, XPS, XRD, etc.).
• Proposal of the degradation mechanisms involved and identification of the most relevant coating for industrial applications.