Synthesis of nanocrystalline samarium-doped CeO2 (SDC) powders as a solid electrolyte by using a simple solvothermal route

Samarium-doped CeO2 is a leading electrolyte for applications in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), which requires a typical sintering temperature of 1400-1600 degrees C. In this work, fully dense CeO2 ceramics doped with 10-20 at.% samarium have been fabricated by a simple polyol process. The XRD and SEM results show that a complete solid solution between CeO2 and samarium was obtained at the sintering temperature of 1300 degrees C. And also the densification temperature is significantly lower than those (1400-1600 degrees C) reported for the SDC powders processed by modified sal gel process and hydrothermal treatment. The resultant ceramics show the sizes of ultrafine grain are lower than 1 mu m. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.