Microwave synthesis & sintering of Sm and Ca co-doped ceria ceramics

In this work we report on the combined use of microwave (MW) heating sources for the powder synthesis and the ceramic sintering of Sm and Ca co-doped ceria Ce0.8Sm0.18Ca0.02O1.9 polycrystalline materials for potential application as an electrolyte in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs). We investigate the crystal structure, ceramic microstructure and the oxygen ion conductivity in detail and compare the latter to conventionally sintered ceramics. MW sintering of ceramic pellets leads to only slightly increased resistivity as compared to conventional sintering, but offers massive energy and time savings for potential industrial production processes. Exceptionally high oxygen ion conductivity without any significant electronic contribution was found in MW synthesized and MW sintered pellets, where the total resistivity, composed of grain boundary and bulk contributions, was found to be in the range of 0.5–1 kΩ at 500 °C. Sm- and Ca co-doped ceria may be well-suited for electrolyte materials in IT-SOFCs. [Display omitted] •Hydrothermal microwave (MW) synthesis of Sm and Ca co-doped ceria nanopowders.•Single-mode MW sintering of Ce0.8Sm0.18Ca0.02O1.9 ceramics.•Microstructural characterisation of MW sintered Ce0.8Sm0.18Ca0.02O1.9 ceramics.•Ionic conductivity measurements in MW sintered Ce0.8Sm0.18Ca0.02O1.9 ceramics.•DC-bias and atmosphere dependent ionic conductivity measurements.