Fe-doped ceria nanopowders synthesized by freeze-drying precursor method for electrocatalytic applications

•Iron doped ceria powders were synthesized through the freeze-drying method.•All the samples were nanocrystalline and monophasic.•Iron doping increases the reducibility of the sample.•The amount and strength of basic sites increased with iron content.•The conductivity is enhanced with iron incorporation in the fluorite structure.

In this work iron doped ceria nanoceramics were successfully synthesized through the freeze-drying method. All the solids were nanocrystalline. The incorporation of iron reduced the crystallite size with the corresponding increment of specific surface area, favoured the sintering of the solids that could be achieved at lower temperatures, increased the reduction percentage achieved in hydrogen flow and increased the amount and strength of basic sites. The lattice parameter showed a continuous decrease with the increment in iron content indicating that iron was incorporated into fluorite ceria structure at concentrations above the solubility limit. Finally, the incorporation of iron improved the conductivity and reduced the activation energy of the process. The higher reducibility, the presence of basic sites and the higher conductivity position iron doped ceria materials as promising anodes for intermediate temperature SOFCs, operated with hydrocarbons.