Microstructural, electrical and thermal characterization of Dy3+, Sm3+, Er3+, Y3+ and Gd3+ multi-doped cerium dioxide as SOFCs solid electrolytes

Abstract

The production of electrolytes with high ionic conductivity has been a key challenge in the progressive development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for practical applications. Conventional approaches use ionic doping to develop electrolyte materials, such as yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), but challenges remain. The doping systems discovered so far can confirm that co-doping/triple doping can introduce more oxygen vacancies to improve the electrical properties of ceria-based electrolytes compared to unitary doping. Therefore, In this work, we select the optimal dopant based on the criterion of optimal doping in cerium dioxide (effective average ionic radius close to 1.093 Å). And propose a novel multi-doped cerium-based Ce1−x(Dy1/5Sm1/5Er1/5Y1/5Gd1/5)xO2-δ (x = 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, abbreviated as DSEYG1, DSEYG2, DSEYG3, DSEYG4, DSEYG5) electrolytes to study its microstructure, electrical properties and thermal properties. Dy3+, Sm3+, Er3+, Y3+, and Gd3+ multi-doped electrolyte materials. Over 95% of the relative density values were obtained by sintering DSEYG series samples at 1400 °C. The single-phase cubic fluorite structure, high-density surface microstructure, elemental confirmation, and oxygen vacancy concentration were confirmed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrum, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrical analysis by impedance spectroscopy confirmed the highest value of total ionic conductivity (σ800 °C= 4.04 ×10−2 S/cm) and the lowest value of activation energy (Ea= 0.834 eV) for the DSEYG3 composition. Thermal expansion analysis confirmed the moderate thermal expansion coefficient values for all compositions (TEC =11.12 ×10−6 K−1) in the range of RT-800 °C) and was found to be in good agreement with recently developed materials. The enhanced total ionic conductivity and moderate thermal expansion coefficient of DSEYG3 make it a potential electrolyte material for medium-temperature fuel cells.