Optimization of electrolyte performance by tailoring the structure and morphology of Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 ceramics with different types of surfactants

Abstract

Sol–gel synthesis assisted with surfactants can produce single Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 perovskite phase at a low calcination temperature. In this work, the influence of applying different types of surfactants (cationic, anionic, and non-ionic) on the phase formation, morphology and electrical conductivity of Y3+ doped Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 perovskite were systematically studied. At Tcalcination of 950 °C, the doped Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 with BaCe0.54Zr0.36Y0.1O2.95 (BCZY) composition prepared with a non-ionic surfactant of Brij97 (S1) successfully formed a single-phase perovskite with a cubic structure compared with the sample prepared with Triton X-100 (S2) (Tcalcination = 1100 °C). By contrast, the other samples showed traces of secondary phases of BaCO3 and oxides such as BaCeO3, (Ce,Zr)O2, ZrO2, CeO2, and BaZrO3, indicating that the required perovskite phase is not completely formed. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analyzes revealed that the powder of S1 was in the range of 20–80 nm and led to the fabrication of dense BCZY electrolyte pellet with a relative density of ~92%. EIS measurement at T = 800 °C revealed that the total conductivity of S1 in a wet 3% H2 atmosphere was 2.34 × 10−2 Scm−1.