ACTA PHYSICA POLONICA A, cilt.132, sa.3, ss.458-460, 2017 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Ceria doped with aliovalent cations, such as rare earth oxides, has been considered as one of the most promising
candidate electrolyte materials for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells. In this study, high purity cerium
nitrate, samarium nitrate and erbium nitrate salts were used to obtain ceria-based solid solutions Ce0:80Sm0:20O1:90
(SDC), Ce0:80Sm0:15Er0:05O1:90 (ESDC5), Ce0:80Sm0:10Er0:10O1:90 (ESDC10) through the cellulose templating
method. Crystal structure and microstructure were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction and scanning
electron microscopy, respectively. X-ray diffraction results indicate that a single-phase fluorite structure formed
at a relatively low calcination temperature, 500 C. The relative densities of the sintered pellets were higher than
93%. The electrical properties of doped and co-doped ceria electrolytes in the temperature range 300–750 C were
analyzed by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The singly doped ceria at 750 C showed the highest
ionic conductivity with less activation energy.