Abstract
Ceria based electrolyte materials have shown potential application in low temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFCs). In this paper, Sm3+ and Nd3+ co-doped CeO2 (SNDC) and pure CeO2 are synthesized via glycine-nitrate process (GNP) and the electro-chemical properties of the nanocrystalline structure electrolyte are investigated using complementary techniques. The result shows that Sm3+ and Nd3+ have been successfully doped into CeO2 lattice, and has the same cubic fluorite structure before, and after, doping. Sm3+ and Nd3+ co-doped causes the lattice distortion of CeO2 and generates more oxygen vacancies, which results in high ionic conductivity. The fuel cells with the nanocrystalline structure SNDC and CeO2 electrolytes have exhibited excellent electrochemical performances. At 450, 500 and 550 °C, the fuel cell for SNDC can achieve an extraordinary peak power densities of 406.25, 634.38, and 1070.31 mW·cm−2, which is, on average, about 1.26 times higher than those (309.38, 562.50 and 804.69 mW·cm−2) for pure CeO2 electrolyte. The outstanding performance of SNDC cell is closely related to the high ionic conductivity of SNDC electrolyte. Moreover, the encouraging findings suggest that the SNDC can be as potential candidate in LT-SOFCs application.
Highlights
These results demonstrate that double or co-doping is a successful strategy and can greatly promote the ionic conductivity of ceria-based electrolytes
The NCAL electrodes show porous strucoxide (NCAL) powders, terpineol and alcohol were mixed into slurry, and the slurry was coated onto the Ni-foam and dried at 120 ◦ C to form the electrode layer
The phase structures of the CeO2 and Sm3+ and Nd3+ co-doped CeO2 (SNDC) materials sintered at 800 ◦ C for 2 h were analyzed by X-ray diffraction experiments
Summary
Shobit Omar et al [18,19] found the ionic conductivity of Sm3+ and Nd3+ co-doped ceria (SNDC) to be 30% higher that of GDC at 550 ◦ C. These results demonstrate that double or co-doping is a successful strategy and can greatly promote the ionic conductivity of ceria-based electrolytes. Various experimental characterizations were carried out to investigate the phase structure, microstructure, electrical and electrochemical properties, as well as fuel cell performances of the nanocrystalline SNDC and pure CeO2 electrolytes. The Sm3+ and Nd3+ co-doped ceria exhibited high ionic conductivity and displayed excellent fuel cell performance of 1070.31 mW·cm−2 at 550 ◦ C. The mechanisms on the greatly enhanced electrical property is discussed
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