Sonochemical synthesis of highly sinterableanocrystalline CeO2-based electrolyte powders for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

摘要

Sonochemical processing was used to synthesize highly sinterable nanocrystalline cerium oxide-based materials (Le., Gd2O3-doped and Sm2O3-doped CeO2 electrolytes). The crystallinity and grain size was investigated using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, confirming that the nanocrystals were approximately 5 nm to 7 nm in size. The feature of nanocrystalline particles resulted in a 200 °C lower sintering temperature than the conventional 1,550 °C sintering temperature used for commercial microcrystalline CeO2-based materials. This significant improvement in sintering temperature was confirmed by microstructural and sintering characterization.