Electrical Conductivity of Submicrometer Gadolinia-Doped Ceria Sintered at 1000C Using Precipitation-Synthesized Nanocrystalline Powders

Abstract

A simple synthetic strategy has been implemented to obtain low-temperature sintered fine grain size gadolinia-doped ceria, Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95, (CGO) electrolyte pellets with a high density using weakly agglomerated particles of calcined nanopowders synthesized by a homogeneous precipitation process. The precipitants used were diethylamine (DEA process) and ammonium hydroxide in neutral precipitation (NP process). X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the single-phase crystalline CGO of a fluorite-type structure. The crystalline powder was directly synthesized from solution by the DEA process at room temperature, whereas the NP process powder was crystallized upon hydrothermal treatment at an elevated temperature. Transmission electron microscopy images showed homogeneously dispersed spherical-shaped particles of ∼5 nm size for nanopowders calcined at 300°C for 4 h. A high densification range from ∼96% to 99% of the theoretical was achieved for the nonconventionally low-temperature sintered pellets at 1000°C from weakly bonded particles of CGO nanopowders calcined at 300°C for 4 h without any sintering aid. The dense CGO pellets sintered at 1000°C for 4 h with an average grain size of ∼150–300 nm exhibited a promising high electrical conductivity of 2.03 × 10−2 S/cm (DEA process) and 2.17 × 10−2 S/cm (NP process), measured at 650°C, and low activation energy Ea. The electrical conductivities of fine grain size low-temperature sintered CGO pellets are comparable with the literature reports of sintered pellets using sintering aids, and high-temperature sintered CGO pellets above 1300°C with a larger grain size.