Synthesis and Characterization of Samarium-Doped CeO2Powders as a Solid Electrolyte by Using Pechini Method

Abstract

In the trivalent rare-earth doped ceria electrolyte for SOFC applications, the highest conductivities are observed for Ce1−xSmxO2−x/2 and Ce1−xGdxO2−x/2. In this study, fully dense samarium doped ceria ceramics (SDC), SmxCe1−xO2−x/2 (x = 0.1) have been synthesized via Pechini method. The phase identi cation, microstructural properties and bond structure of SDC samples were studied by using X-ray di raction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier TransformInfrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The XRD results indicate that a singlephase uorite structure has formed at relatively low calcination temperature of 500 ◦C. This method yields high purity ultra ne powders which can form dense electrolyte at relatively low sintering temperatures. The SEM results show that a complete solid solution between ceria and samarium was obtained at the sintering temperature of 1400 ◦C.