Abstract:
In this study, Boron Doped Ceria (BDC) ionic conductor is prepared by co-precipitation
method. Three different samples with different concentrations of boric acid and cerium
nitrate were synthesized with ratio B0.3Ce0.70, B0.20Ce0.80 and B0.10Ce0.90 named as BDC-1,
BDC-2 and BDC-3 respectively. Sodium carbonate was used as precipitating agent in
quantity 20% of total sample. Then fabricated electrolyte was sintered at the temperature
700 ℃ in the furnace. Raman analysis of the electrolyte was conducted to evaluate the
vibrational and rotational modes of material. The intense peak showed the vibrational
mode of cerium oxide and lower peak showed an oxygen vacancy over some range of
550-650 cm-1
. These results showed that BDC electrolyte have high oxygen vacancies
with the increase in sintering temperature. FTIR results showed the formation of the Ce O bonds, OH stretching, metal-oxide bonds and some residual material peaks.
Furthermore, FTIR spectra of the ionic conductor revealed OH stretching indicating that
moisture is present in the sample. The conductivity measurements showed that
conductivity of BDC-2 was electrolyte 0.086 Scm-1
at 750 ℃. These results revealed that
the BDC electrolyte shows high ionic conductivity at intermediate temperatures that
makes it useful for SOFC application. Fuel cell performance for BDC electrolyte
materials was analyzed by using BCFZ anode and LSCZ cathode and a plot of voltage
was drawn. BDC-2 having medium amount of doped Boron achieved high OCV as
compared to BDC-1 and BDC-3. It was observed that cerium is best conductor so, its
conductive behavior elevates the OCV as compared to Gd and Sm
