Superior sinterability of nano-crystalline gadolinium doped ceria powders synthesized by co-precipitation method

Reduced sintering temperature of doped ceria can greatly simplify the fabrication process of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) by utilizing the co-firing of all cell components with a single step. In the present study, nano-crystalline gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) powders of high sinterability at lower sintering temperature has been synthesized by co-precipitation at room temperature. The successful synthesis of nano-crystalline GDC was confirmed by XRD, TEM and Raman spectroscopy analysis. Dilatometry studies showed that GDC prepared by this method can be fully densified (97% relative density) at a sintering temperature of 950 oC which is fairly lower than ever before. It has also been found that the sintered samples have a higher ionic conductivity of 1.64 x 10-2 S cm-1 at 600 oC which is suitable for the intermediate temperature SOFC application.