Sintering and electrochemical performance of Y2O3-doped barium zirconate with Bi2O3 as sintering aids

► Bi2O3 as sintering aid for BZY was evaluated. ► The activation energy for densification is 5.40 eV for BZY-3. ► The conductivity is 1.13 × 10−3 S cm−1 for BZY-2 sintered at 1400 °C for 24 h. ► The OCV is 0.95 V with the ionic transport number of 0.83 at 600 °C.