The paper describes an electrochemical model, which largely explains the formation of Ba in the oxide cathode at activation and normal operation. In a non-doped oxide cathode electrolysis of BaO is, besides the exchange reaction from the activators in the cathode nickel, an important source of Ba. By doping with rare earth oxides the conductivity of the oxide layer increases, which implies that the potential difference during current drawing over the oxide layer becomes lower and electrolysis of BaO is suppressed. This implies that the part of the electronic conductivity of the (Ba,Sr)O layer induced by the dopants also controls the sensitivity for poisoning: the higher the dopant level, the larger the sensitivity for poisoning. Furthermore, the suppression of electrolysis during normal operation largely explains why doped oxide cathodes have a better life performance than non-doped cathodes. Finally a hypothesis on the enhancement of sintering upon doping is presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.