Ceria Based Solid Electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

In order to meet the growing energy demand, some of the potential non-conventional energy sources are being explored continuously viz., solar, hydrogen, wind, tidal etc. In all these cases, trapping the energy in the efficient and environmentally benign means is very important. For harnessing hydrogen energy, fuel cell is one of the best electrochemical devices which is being studied extensively for its improvement. Among the different types of fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are highly advantageous. The present work is focused on exploring the ceria (CeO2) based electrolytes for improved oxygen ion conductivity meant for intermediate temperature (IT, 873 K - 1073 K)-SOFCs. Here, different compositions of Ce0.8Ln0.2O2-d, Ce1-xGdxO2-d, Ce1-xSmxO2-d, Ce1-xSrxO2-d solid solutions were synthesized by wet chemical routes. The structural details were carried out by using TG/DTA, XRD, FT-IR, Raman, FE-SEM with EDX, TEM etc. Then the electrochemical properties were studied by using impedance spectroscopy, which gives the oxygen ion conductivity. Simultaneously, we understand and contribute to the basic material chemistry aspects of SOFC in general.