Synthesis and characterization of Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 nanopowder via an acetic–acrylicmethod

Nanocrystalline Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (GDC) powders are successfully prepared by an acetic–acrylic method using acrylic acid, cerium acetate and gadolinium acetate as the starting materials. The polymeric precursors are characterized by means of TG/DTA, XRD and FT-IR, and the resultant powders are characterized by XRF, BET, SEM and particle size distribution (PSD) analysis. It is shown that the morphology of the oxide particles is dependent on the preparation conditions such as molar ratio of acrylic acid to metallic ions (L/M) and the sort of surfactant. High purity, single phase, homogeneous, nanocrystalline GDC powders with slight aggregation are obtained using ethylene glycol as surfactant, L/M=0.5 and heat treatment above 600 °C. The low application amount and high effect of acrylic acid is attributed to the co-operation of carboxyl group and ethylenic bond. The electrical conductivity of the sintered GDC pellet is 0.053 Scm−1 in air at 750 °C. The present work indicates that the acetic–acrylic method is a relatively green method without any NOx to synthesize high performance GDC powders.