Researchers at MIT tackled the known problem of degradation suffered when perovskite oxides, promising candidates for electrodes in energy conversion devices like fuel cells, are exposed to water or gases such as oxygen or carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures.

The scientists explain that this degradation occurs as the surfaces of these perovskites get covered up by a strontium oxide–related layer, and this layer is insulating against oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions, which are critical for the performance of fuel cells, electrolyzers and thermochemical fuel production. This layer on the electrode surface is detrimental to the efficiency and durability of the device, causing the surface reactions to slow down by more than an order of magnitude.