Study of Na2O Doped CeO2 as Electrolyte for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Application

Abstract

In the present study, Na2O doped CeO2 has been prepared by solid state reaction method. The samples are sintered at 1300 °C for 12 hours followed by furnace cooling. The synthesized samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase confirmation and their volume fractions. UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Impedance spectroscopy are used for optical, structural and conducting properties of the as-prepared samples, respectively. All the samples are crystalline in nature due to sharp peaks present in the XRD patterns. The optical band gap of all the samples lies in the insulating range. CNH-0.05 sample shows highest band gap (~3.21 eV) as compared to other samples. The SEM images show a nonuniform distribution of particles with an average size of ~ 3μm in all the samples. The conductivity of the samples is less than the un-doped samples and lies in the range of 10-7 S/cm.