Preparation and characterization of 10 mol% Gd doped CeO2 (GDC) electrolyte for SOFC applications

Abstract

Ceria-based materials are prospective electrolytes for low and intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells. In the present work, fully dense CeO2 ceramics doped with 10 mol% gadolinium (Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95, GDC) have been prepared with a Pechini method. Characterization studies were realized with thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), mass spectroscopy (MS), high temperature FT-IR (HT-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). A single-phase with a fluorite type structure was found to form at a relatively low calcination temperature of 500 degrees C. Dense GDC pellets having 98% of the relative density were obtained at sintering temperature of 1400 degrees C/6 h, which gave significantly higher total ionic conductivity of 3.4 x 10(-2) S cm(-1) at 500 degrees C in air. The present work showed that the Pechini method is a relatively low-temperature preparation technique to synthesize Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 powders that provided high sinterability and good ionic conductivity. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.