For this paper, we investigated the area specific resistance (ASR) of commercially available ferritic stainless steels with different chemical compositions for use as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) interconnect. After 430h of oxidation, the STS446M alloy demonstrated excellent oxidation resistance and low ASR, of approximately 40 mΩcm2, of the thermally grown oxide scale, compared to those of other stainless steels. The reason for the low ASR is that the contact resistance between the Pt paste and the oxide scale is reduced due to the plate-like shape of the Cr2O3(s). However, the acceptable ASR level is considered to be below 100 mΩcm2 after 40,000 h of use. To further improve the electrical conductivity of the thermally grown oxide on stainless steels, the Co layer was deposited on the stainless steel by means of an electroless deposition method; it was then thermally oxidized to obtain the Co3O4 layer, which is a highly conductive layer. With the increase of the Co coating thickness, the ASR value decreased. For Co deposited STS444 with 2 μmhickness, the measured ASR at 800˚ after 300 h oxidation is around 10 mΩcm2, which is lower than that of the STS446M, which alloy has a lower ASR value than that of the non-coated STS. The reason for this improved high temperature conductivity seems to be that the Mn is efficiently diffused into the coating layer, which diffusion formed the highly conductive (Mn,Co)3O4 spinel phases and the thickness of the Cr2O3(S), which is the rate controlling layer of the electrical conductivity in the SOFC environment and is very thin

Fe-Cr steels are the most promising candidate for interconnect in solid oxide fuel cells. In this study, an effective, dense and well adherent (LaSr)(CrCo) [LSCC] coating layer was produced onto 430 stainless steel (STS-430) by atmospheric plasma spraying and the oxidation behavior as well as electrical properties of the LSCC coated STS-430 were investigated. A significant oxidation of pristine STS-430 occurred at in air environment, leading to the formation of and scale layer up to after 1200h, and consequently increased an area specific resistance of . Although the plasma sprayed LSCC coating contained the characteristic pore network, the coated samples presented apparent advantages in reducing oxidation growth of STS-430, resulting a decrease in oxide scale thickness of at after 1200h. The area specific resistance of the LSCC coated STS-430 was much reduced to after exposure at for 1200h, compared to that of the pristine STS-403.