Synthesis of nanocrystalline gadolinium doped ceria via sol–gel combustion and sol–gel synthesis routes

Abstract Gadolinium doped ceria (GDC) has been investigated as a promising material for application as an electrolyte in intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC). In this work, 10GDC powders (Gd 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 1.95 ) were synthesized by sol–gel combustion and sol–gel synthesis routes using the same complexing agents in both procedures. The thermal behavior of Gd–Ce–O precursor gels was investigated by TG–DSC measurements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used for the characterization of phase purity and crystallinity of synthesized samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed for the estimation of surface morphological features. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption (BET model) was used for evaluation of specific surface area. The surface composition was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Electrical properties of synthesized ceramic samples were studied by means of impedance spectroscopy.