Comparative study of Ce0.80Sm0.20 Ba0.80Y0.20O3-δ (YB-SDC) electrolyte by various chemical synthesis routes

Abstract

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells is received a significant attention in recent years due to higher efficiency and fuel flexibility. The one of the main challenge for SOFC is to lower the operating temperature of SOFCs. Therefore, different strategies are used in order to enhance the ionic conduction of electrolyte, which can lower the overall SOFC operating temperature. The present work is focused on this strategy to enhance the electrolytic conductivity. Therefore, the ceria based composite electrolytes Ce0.80Sm0.20B0.80Y0.20O3-δ (YBSDC) are synthesized using three different approaches i.e. co-precipitation (YBSDC-1), sol-gel (YBSDC-2) and ball milling (YBSDC-3). Their crystal structures and surface morphologies are characterized through X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques, respectively. The four-probe technique is employed to measure their dc conductivities in the temperature range (300–700) °C under air atmosphere. The open circuit voltage (OCV) and current are recorded with natural gas as fuel {flow rate kept at 100 ml min−1 at 1 atm pressure} over the temperature range (300–600) °C.The electrolyte (YBSDC-1) prepared by co-precipitation technique is shown better results as compare to other two electrolytes (YBSDC-2 and YBSDC-3). The electrolyte (YBSDC-1) having maximum dc conductivity (0.096 S/cm), peak power density 224 mW cm−2 and OCV 0.94 V at 600 °C. These results show that YBSDC-1electrolyte is potential candidate for low temperature SOFCs. Keywords: Hydrogen, Energy, Ball milling, Composite, Conductor