SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Strontium mediated modification of structure and ionic conductivity in samarium doped ceria/sodium carbonate nanocomposites as electrolytes for LTSOFC
Abstract
The structural changes on the addition of strontium in samarium doped ceria/Na2CO3 nanocomposites were investigated with respect to sintering temperature. The nanocomposites prepared by a co-precipitation method in the presence (SrSDS) and absence (SDS) of strontium were sintered at 500, 600 and 700 °C. XRD results indicated an increase in crystallite size and lattice parameter with respect to sintering temperature in the presence of strontium. Raman, SEM and FT-IR studies confirmed the presence of Na2CO3 and CeO2 phases. The observed changes in crystallinity and oxygen vacancy concentrations indicate the beneficial role of strontium upon sintering up to 600 °C. The impedance spectral analysis clearly shows the beneficial effect of adding strontium to the composite. The lowest activation energy (0.61 eV) with the highest conductivity (3.8 × 10−3 S cm−1) for SrSDS sintered at 600 °C arises due to the strong interaction between the Na2CO3 and CeO2 phase. However, sintering the composites at 700 °C indicated a negligible effect of strontium due to the decomposition of Na2CO3, thereby limiting the operational temperature of the nanocomposites for potential fuel cell applications.
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