High Performance Low-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Based on Nanostructured Ceria-Based Electrolyte

Ceria based electrolyte materials have shown potential application in low temperature solid oxide fuel cells (LT-SOFCs). In this paper, Sm(3+) and Nd(3+) co-doped CeO(2) (SNDC) and pure CeO(2) are synthesized via glycine-nitrate process (GNP) and the electro-chemical properties of the nanocrystalline structure electrolyte are investigated using complementary techniques. The result shows that Sm(3+) and Nd(3+) have been successfully doped into CeO(2) lattice, and has the same cubic fluorite structure before, and after, doping. Sm(3+) and Nd(3+) co-doped causes the lattice distortion of CeO(2) and generates more oxygen vacancies, which results in high ionic conductivity. The fuel cells with the nanocrystalline structure SNDC and CeO(2) electrolytes have exhibited excellent electrochemical performances. At 450, 500 and 550 °C, the fuel cell for SNDC can achieve an extraordinary peak power densities of 406.25, 634.38, and 1070.31 mW·cm(−2), which is, on average, about 1.26 times higher than those (309.38, 562.50 and 804.69 mW·cm(−2)) for pure CeO(2) electrolyte. The outstanding performance of SNDC cell is closely related to the high ionic conductivity of SNDC electrolyte. Moreover, the encouraging findings suggest that the SNDC can be as potential candidate in LT-SOFCs application.