Synthesis and characterization of (La, Cu) co-doped CeO${}_2$ nanomaterials used as electrolyte material in SOFC applications

This paper, it is aimed that nanometer-sized powders can be successfully prepared by using the sol-gel process so that sintering temperatures can be reduced and they can be used as suitable electrolyte candidate materials for medium-temperature SOFC applications. Fort his, bare CeO${}_2$ (cerium dioxide), which has not yet been encountered in the literature, and La,Cu co-doped CeO${}_2$ nanoparticles with different molar ratios (1%, 5%, and 10%) were synthesized as electrolyte material using the sol-gel method for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) applications. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-Vis spectroscopy, and particle size analysis techniques. In order to examine the effect of doping, the structural, morphological, and optical properties of bare cerium oxide and doped cerium oxide powders were compared. With the doping process, reductions in average particle sizes were observed, and it was determined that the sample with the lowest average particle size was 5% (La, Cu) co-doped CeO${}_2$. It has been confirmed by XRD and SEM/EDX that bare CeO${}_2$ and co-doped CeO${}_2$ powder synthesized have been successfully achieved by the sol-gel technique. The results show that the La,Cu co-doped CeO${}_2$ sample is promising as an electrolyte material in SOFC applications.