Study on calcium and samarium co-doped ceria based nanocomposite electrolytes

Calcium co-doped SDC-based nanocomposite electrolyte (Ce0.8Sm0.2−xCaxO2−δ–Na2CO3) was synthesized by a co-precipitation method. The microstructure and morphology of the composite electrolytes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM), and thermal properties were determined with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The particle size, as shown by TEM imaging, was 5–20 nm, which is in a good agreement with the SEM and XRD results. The co-doping effect on both interfaces of the composite electrolyte and doped bulk effect inside the ceria was studied. The excellent performance of the fuel cell was about 1000 mW cm−2 at 560 °C and at the very low temperature of 350 °C the power density was 200 mW cm−2. This paper may give a new approach to develop functional nanocomposite electrolyte for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (LTSOFC).