Engineered co-precipitation chemistry with ammonium carbonate for scalable synthesis and sintering of improved Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.90 and Gd0.16Pr0.04Ce0.8O1.90 electrolytes for IT-SOFCs

Abstract

Nanometric powders of doped and co-doped ceria based ceramics with spherical-like morphology and characterized by very low degree of agglomeration, were prepared by using a simple and cheap synthesis route, easily scalable on industrial level, based on an optimized co-precipitation process with ammonium carbonate as precipitating agent. The as-synthesized powders are completely converted to ceria with fluorite structure. The original morphology and the nanometric features are also preserved. Nearly perfect dense products were obtained after sintering at 1300 degrees C for 3 h, as by SEM and density measurements. Electrochemical measurements proved that they are all suitable as electrolytes for IT-SOFC. (C) 2017 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.